Smartphone app checks vital signs with face scan
Every morning before their shift at a Kajima construction site, workers check their vital signs.
Location: Singapore
All it takes is a 45-second scan of his face using an app developed by Singapore start-up Nervotec.
The app takes note of heart rate,oxygen levels, respiration rate, and even stress levels using Artificial Intelligence-based technology.
So how does it work?
The Nervotec app uses remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) and AI to capture and analyze the user's vitals.
The smartphone camera measures the differences in the reflectivity of light that hit the user's skin, which corresponds to the different pulse rates of the body. Computer vision and predictive analysis AI then monitor the user's face and conclude the readings for their vital signs.
Here’s Nervotec Founder Jonathan Lau.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) NERVOTEC FOUNDER JONATHAN LAU, SAYING:" What we do, is we use the white light that's now reflecting off my face, we apply smart computer visions techniques to first identify the face, then filter this white light into the channels we're interested in, and then deriving the vital signs from those channels."
Kajima has been using Nervotec's app at its work sites in Singapore since December 2020 - to complement daily temperature screenings.
It’s part of a government-initiated program which provides companies with technology still in their trial stages to help them adjust to the new norms.
Kajima’s senior manager Tan Kee Chuan says the Nervotec app is his company’s "first line of defense" against another health crisis.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR ENGINEER AT KAJIMA, TAN KEE CHUAN, SAYING: "The application acts as a first line of defense by scanning the workers just by using the handphone. It is very convenient provided that the worker adheres to this scanning on a daily basis. So we do have our own temperature monitoring system installed as a second line of defense, to reject all of the personnel who are deemed unfit for work."
Similar apps that utilize smartphone cameras to scan users' vital signs do exist…
but Nervotec claims that its technology goes one step further by using the data to offer a "diagnosis" of the user's health condition.
Professor Chwee Teck Lim is the director of the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Health Innovation and Technology.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE'S INSTITUTE OF HEALTH INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY, PROFESSOR CHWEE TECK LIM, SAYING: "So what Nervotec is proposing could potentially be a game-changer, they are trying to use the smartphone camera coupled with an AI-driven app, to capture an image of the face then thereafter be able to measure the vital signs. So currently, I think they claim that they can obtain accuracy of down to two beats per minute for heart rate, and also two percentage in terms of oxygen saturation. But it remains to be seen, I think we still have to go through this FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulatory test before we can determine how accurate this technology is."
The app is still under review….
but Lau said there is significant interest in the technology. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NERVOTEC FOUNDER JONATHAN LAU, SAYING: "We see the most traction coming from healthcare providers, both private and public, more than the authorities, because the ability to use rPPG and to have constant remote patient monitoring without the need for additional manpower or equipment is really a big problem solver for a lot of healthcare providers, globally."
