LocationsCOVID-19 Open-Source Innovation: AI Digital Stethoscope
The COVID-19 Detect and Protect Challenge is crowdsourcing open-source hardware innovations to tackle the disease. Every one of the 300+ innovations submitted is made freely available, with all instructions needed for others to build them. Here, we talk to Grand Prize Winners Peter Ma and the MixPose team behind the AI Digital Stethoscope.
Tell us about your solution. How does it address a specific need around COVID-19 response/recovery?
We built an inexpensive digital stethoscope that can be paired with phones or computers - and a corresponding Android application - to detect various breathing sequences through Artificial Intelligence (AI) sound detection. Current digital stethoscopes cost more than $250, and we built this one for under $10. Through mass production, the device could potentially be built for less than $1. Telemedicine, which allows doctors to diagnose patients remotely, has been maturing over the past decade. For remote diagnosis, doctors often rely on digital stethoscopes. However, these can be costly and, in some cases, even unavailable in many low- and middle-income countries. Our prototype could be immensely beneficial in these settings. Furthermore, for areas with limited access to healthcare professionals, we need affordable AI technologies to aid in diagnosis. The Android application can record breathing sounds, which are analysed to inform users of their current symptoms. For expert advice, the sound recordings can also be emailed to a doctor.
What was the inspiration behind the project?
As a team, the three of us have always been passionate about making the world a healthier place. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, we decided to quit our jobs in order to work on our company, MixPose. MixPose was established with the aim of helping people stay healthy by practicing yoga remotely and to provide employment to fitness professionals during the pandemic. When UNDP and Hackster.io announced the COVID-19 Detect and Protect Challenge we were inspired to join because the focus was on real-world deployment (and because we’ve won over 50 hackathons together!) While most hackathon projects focus on glitzy technologies, our aim was to drive the real-world impact of technologies in helping people who need it the most. After conducting interviews with several front-line doctors, we focused on developing a digital stethoscope equipped with AI features. We thought this could have immense impact, as the device seemed both feasible and scalable.
Team Mixpose co-founders from left to right: Ethan Fan, Peter Ma, and Sarah Han
Why do you think open-source is so important in responding to COVID-19?
Open-source enables collaboration, creativity, knowledge sharing, distribution and localisation of the engineering solutions which can be used to build a better world. Open-source hardware is especially critical as it allows others in lower-income locations to recreate existing solutions rapidly and with ease. This is especially true today. It is crucial for countries around the world to be resourceful, and to combat the pandemic utilising resources at hand. I am especially proud and glad that another engineer was inspired by our project and was able to replicate it. His project is a prime example of why open-source is so important in responding to COVID-19.
What is the impact you hope to achieve with this solution?
We are currently in discussions with various manufacturers to scale-up and mass produce the stethoscope. It would empower many doctors to help detect and treat patients remotely. We hope other entrepreneurs and inventors will use our prototype to start building out different versions of the digital stethoscope. This might even result in the digital stethoscope becoming a household item that everyone can afford!
What is one solution in the #COVID19DetectProtect challenge that you wish you'd built and why?
I wish I could have built a quick, affordable and easy to use COVID-19 detection kit. This would allow people to isolate as well as return back to normal so much faster.
About Team MixPose: Peter Ma, Sarah Han, and Ethan Fan are co-founders of an interactive live streaming remote yoga startup named MixPose. They started the company to help people stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.