uhh...how about no!
putting pee inside my mobile...that's just taking the piss!
Fancy getting your hands on $10 million? Of course you do. Then just grab a tool kit and build a working Star Trek-style medical tricorder. Simples. The X Prize Foundation, famed for innovative big-prize challenges in technical advancement, has outlined its next contest: make an all-purpose mobile device that can do a doctor's …
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...the original tricorder didn't need blood, breath, or pee. Likely used some form of portable MRI to take the readings though, as it was just waved near the bodily injury. Now, Next Generation had a detachable mini-wand that was used as a remote sensor, rather than simply waving the whole device itself. The other trick is that the tricorder acted almost like a read-only (no way to act on the environment) Sonic Screwdriver, being able to detect lifesigns, mineral composition, air quality, etc. There's quite the challenge ahead for those seeking the $10mil.
Can't see the medical community being too happy about the implied messages of "we're going to replace every doctor in the world for a piddling 10mill". Dollars, even - not pounds!
Expect many entries from pharmaceutical companies that end up flashing "we've got a pill for that" on the screen...
X-Prizes prize values have always been piddling, compared to the money you can make selling the device/service after the fact. They generally aren't even enough to cover development costs. Look at the Ansari X-Prize as a good example. None of the contenders spent less in development than the prize was worth.
The point of the X-Prizes seems to be to give a small financial incentive along with some good media buzz to help along a goal which should be feasible with modern technology but appears to be foundering due to lack of interest.
It's more about drumming up press than the actual money. This way, the monetary reward only has to be big enough to impress some low-ranking hack -- no offense intended -- rather than the financial titans who actually have the resources to develop said solution.
Having said all that, I know someone who's developed most of what's necessary already using off-the-shelf components. The only thing missing is the diagnosis engine, which he hasn't developed due to legal concerns...
There's still some positions available for that bonus opportunity I mentioned earlier. Again: all you gotta do is let us disassemble you; we're not banging rocks together here, we know how to put a man back together. So, that's a complete reassembly, new vitals, spit-shine on the old ones, plus we're scooping out tumors. Frankly, you ought to be paying us.
Sorry but $10m or £6.5m is not enough for someone to develop this piece of hardware as they could make a hell of allot more than that, by patenting it and selling it to Hospital's and Doctor's
By the time you have paid the tax on that money you will be able to live of it with no problem's but you would have thought it would be more like, $100m or £65m to actually make it worth it fully considering what advances this could bring to the medical proffesion in the future and dealing with illness.
I don't have the knowledge to actually make this but I would of though it would be a long time before it was even thought about, considering the amount of thing's that would be needed in such a device.
But good luck to whoever tries and actually does it.
i doubt scaled got back the amount they invested into the x-prize for sub orb and as you pointed out it would not work as a business plan.
these prizes arn't really designed to cover the full costs but to provide a bit of an incentive as well as publicity etc
as for replacing doctors we have plenty of automating stuff in the IT world yet there are still plenty humans (or as near to) working. it wont replace trained experts but it will be a great assistant in times of crisis/battlefield/remote area's
Tricorder, hell. Where's my goddamn' Newspad?
And, NO, the iPad doesn't count. That thing is frickin' weak. As I recally, the Newspad in Kubrick's '2001' wasn't a wimpy-assed locked-down device.
But, seriously, folks... how long after these go on the market will we get to hear one paramedic glumly intone to another, "He's dead, Jim."
...sounds like cheating to me.
I mean, if they wanted a _real_ medical tricorder, it'd have to be something you could wave up and down over somebody in order to determine their problem. Still, I guess you have to start somewhere.
Btw, I'm not quite sure this device would really _replace_ a real, actual doctor, but I'm sure it'd come in very handy for paramedics and the like.
Geek icon, because I still have my copy of the circa 1976 Star Fleet Tech Manual, containing a cutaway diagram of the tricorders showing huge bunches of solid-state components and ICs inside, with the disclaimer "Actual internal arrangement classified; representation of late 20th Century Terran early development."
No, please, don't pity me.
Before.
Sub orbital flight. "Can't be done, no market, already been done, no one interested" blah, blah.
After
20+ entries made, many of whom were able to raise funding on the basis that "If we win this, there's a big bag of cash on the table."
Virgin Galactic wit 5000 people ready to offer $200k full fair on launch day.
New mexico spaceport
It's that *immediate* bag of cash right up front (if you can meet the criteria).
Not
"well our business plan anticipates a 7 year FDA approval delay but after that we expect a steady growth of at least 5% PA." Yawn.
That's what gets people excited.
That's what *can* get funding released.
The X prize was modeled on the Orteg prize that Charles Lindberg won for the New York to Paris run. BTW Lindberg was IIRC one of 7 entrants and the *last* to takeoff. It was neither the best funded nor AFAIK the most technically advanced, but it won.
Thumbs up. Obviously the devils in the details of the prize rules but I hope that they will prioritize *results* (IE a *reliable* diagnostic tool over a *comprehensive*) without specifying *method* (like it *must* analyse urine but does not have to look at a patients skin or eyes).