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Will artificial intelligence recognize COVID-19 and other diseases?

March 18, 2021

Artificial intelligence (AI), step by step is making its way into the healthcare field. As a disease recognizing tool, AI could help people follow and monitor their health without actually going to medical care centres. It could help improve the time and efficiency of disease recognition. But the question is, how can artificial intelligence find and recognize diseases of the human body?

The finalists of Vilnius Gediminas technical university's (VILNIUS TECH) makers academy "Makeademy" and the inventors of the "Health Check Device" ("HCD"), Jonas Rudis and Ignas Kuncevičius – found the answer to this question. The author of the "Health Check Device" idea, Jonas Rudis, says that the "HCD" is designed to recognize various human diseases, including COVID-19. For predicting sickness, the device collects mechanical sounds of the human body and uses an artificial intelligence sound recognition system. 

The idea of the "HCD" product came to J. Rudis and I. Kuncevičius during their studies at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA), studying the consequences of the COVID-19 virus and the possibilities of facilitating them.

Recognition of diseases – through the sounds of the human body

"Attached to specific parts of the human body, the "HCD" device can identify and record sounds emitted by the human organism. The received information is then processed and classified by AI. AI uses specific algorithms in order to identify diseases according to the available collected material," J. Rudis, the creator of the idea, says. 

J. Rudis also states, that "the collected material about a person becomes additional data that helps AI improve and recognize more symptoms. Yet, for security reasons, the user profile is anonymous".

The device can become a great help in the field of healthcare. According to "HCD" co-founder I. Kuncevičius, "HCD" can be applied in various ways: from preventive health care at home, remote patient care to health monitoring of professional athletes.

Last year the young creators with the product's idea decided to step further and to participate in the technical creativity program "Makeademy", which was organized by VILNIUS TECH Creativity and Innovation Centre "LinkMenų fabrikas" and telecommunication company "Tele2". 

The future of artificial intelligence in medicine

"We are going to see AI diagnosing diseases everywhere in a few years," Lucas Lopez, the CTO and co-founder of "Volatile AI" and one of the mentors of the "Makeademy" program, says. 

"HCD is developing a hardware device aiming to improve the performance of predictions, which definitely has great potential. However, there is a lot of competence in the field now, and data science is what will make a difference. They need to play their cards well to position in the market," L. Lopez adds.

Still, Lucas Lopez predicts that the "HCD" team in the future may face several challenges that could catch up with any start-up working in the AI field.

"I see two big challenges. Firstly, they need to prove that it works; that will take a long time due to the long-term development nature of diseases and the strict medical regulations in medicine, which means a need for capital or source of revenue that will allow them to survive until then. Secondly, the adoption of the technology will be slow by both experts and users; AI can prove that it works statistically but gives no explanations of how or why, and that is very difficult to accept by people," L. Lopez says. 

The research 

During the "Makeademy" project, the "HCD" creators participated in various rapid prototyping workshops and courses. They developed the design of their prototype and delved into the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in medicine.

"After the consultations with the specialists developing the AI, we learned that at the stage of data collection, a simple telephone microphone is used to collect the sounds of the human body. When using such a microphone, a lot of extraneous information is collected, and relatively few sounds emitted by the human body are recorded," J. Rudis says. 

Thus, the idea of creating a device that can record the sounds of the human body without extraneous background noise was born. 

Firstly, the "HCD" developers focused only on recognizing the COVID-19 disease. Yet, a variety of new scientific articles have been published. By collaborating with several companies developing artificial intelligence for disease recognition, developers have learned that it is possible to identify a much broader range of sounds than just the ones produced by COVID-19. Consequently, the developers decided to create a device recognizing more human diseases. 

"At the beginning of the project, we collaborated with the "VoiceMed" team from Luxembourg. They gave us the basic knowledge of product development and advised us how to apply the technology they are developing in our "HCD" project," J. Rudis says.

"Later on, we started working with other AI development companies – "NeuroLex" (United States) and "Corti" (Denmark). These companies help us to understand which diseases of the human body can be detected. Also, we discussed what problems AI-based companies can face and what legal requirements arise when recording body sounds," J. Rudis adds. 

"The development of the "HCD" project became a real challenge for both of us", the designer I. Kuncevičius admits. 

"In addition to design and construction work, it was necessary to delve into the psychology and technology of the prospective user, gain knowledge of the characteristics, strategies and regulations of the medical business," I. Kuncevičius says. 

Upcoming plans

The "HCD" team shared second place in the "Makeademy" project together with team "Algy". The "Algy" team is developing an innovative micro-algae aquarium that purifies the air from carbon dioxide. Both teams won 1,500 euros each.

The "HCD" founders admit that they are going to invest their whole prize back into the project. J. Rudis and I. Kuncevičius also state that the "Makeademy" program has helped them find helpful contacts and provided them with all the support needed to start their project. 

"Programs like "Makeademy" are essential for society. They offer highly skilled and motivated individuals to apply their knowledge in new ways and make impact. Very often the skills of workers are not exploited to their full potential in corporates, and showing people there is an alternative way is like removing a blindfold," Lucas Lopez, the CTO and co-founder of "Volatile AI" adds.
 

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