WEBVTT - The Real Star Trek Tricorder 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.240 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.520 Forward Thinking, to be one, and welcome to Forward Thinking, 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.720 the podcast that looks at the future and says, everyone's 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:22.640 a superhero, Everyone's a Captain Kirk. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:27.160 I'm Joe McCormick. Hey guys, Hey Jonathan. So you know 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:33.160 what my favorite science fiction franchise with an overall optimistic 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.280 perspective on what the future is gonna be happens to 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:41.080 really be one. You know, you're right, But my second 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:45.600 favorite is Star Trek. The Trek, the Trek, the one 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.480 and only. Uh yeah, wait, wait, hold on, you got 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:50.720 to say on the air, and people want to know, 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.880 original series next Generation Voyager? Where are you? Uh? You know, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.480 when it comes down to the actual episode, I'm a 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.040 next generation guy. When it comes to the films, I'm 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:07.480 an original series guy. Um. I never really got into 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.880 Voyager that much, although I understand it. If I had 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:11.720 stuck with it, I probably would have enjoyed it. I 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.920 actually really like Deep Space nine. Yeah. I thought that 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:20.160 the political elements of Deep Space nine were really interesting. Yeah. 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.000 So we've talked about Star Trek tech on this show before. Yes, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:25.880 we have, and there's got to be a reason we're 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.520 bringing up Star Trek again. Might it be there's a 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.840 specific piece of technology on the enterprise that we want 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:36.280 to delve into. Yes, those elevators, those lifts are amazing. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.920 They are They're kind of like wantavaders. They can go 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.160 sideways or diagonal ways. Okay, we want to talk about 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.200 tri orders tricorders. Yeah. As it turns out, the tri 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.240 quarter has been getting a lot of attention recently, mainly 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:53.640 because of the announcement of specific teams that are competing 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.960 to make a real one. Wait wait wait, wait wait, yeah, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.840 make a real one. Well, I mean it helps first 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.600 to explained what a tricorder is, right, to understand why 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.120 making a real one is kind of a big thing 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.400 in the first place. Yeah, okay, So a triquarter is 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.760 a medical device mainly, although it can also be just 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.240 an environmental sensor. Yeah. It's a scientific device in general, 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.480 but frequently used in medicine. Yeah. Uh. Mr Spock often 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.560 carried a tricorder on away missions. They would beam down 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:23.639 to a planet. Mr Spock would look at the tricorder 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:28.040 and say, Captain, it appears we can breathe very useful information, 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.720 but seriously though it had. It had environmental sensors. Really 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.720 it was. It was like a magic sensor that could 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.160 detect anything. It was. It was a little bit of 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.119 a sonic screwdriver, it really was. It was very much 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.520 like the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver, and that it was 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.120 capable of doing whatever the plot needed it too. But 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.280 within the context of the shows, it either would give 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.840 you information about your environment, whether something might be toxic 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.720 or there might be contaminants in the environment. You you 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.600 might be able to tell if someone else had visited 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.600 that same place that you visited. Let's say that it's 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.200 a planet where it's pre warped technology planet, so the 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.360 prime directive is in full effect, and you detect there's 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.959 a signature here that states that we're not the first 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.760 people to visit. That would be kind of a typical 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.880 Star Trek plot. But like you said, Lauren, more frequently 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.320 than not, you also saw the triquarter being used in 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:25.400 a medical capacity when Dr Bones McCoy would be using 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.240 it to determine what sort of terrible ailment had befallen 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:33.079 a crew member before harassibly saying that he needed to 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:37.120 treat it. In some medieval terrible way. So the example 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.440 I have here is, according to this in and Smith, 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.640 you have been stabbed by a klingon. That would be 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:46.240 a diagnosis he would use after using the probe on 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.160 a tricorder right right, which would be able to tell 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.440 I don't know things about their vital signs or what's 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.840 going on with their internal organs. Yeah, and detect anything 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.440 like a like a pathogen, any sort of thing that 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:01.760 would would affect the health in either a negative or 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:03.880 a positive way. So wait a minute, No, I'm trying 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.440 to remember. To get a reading on someone, did he 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:10.240 have to insert it directly into their torso he did not. 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.600 There was a non invasive tool. There were versions that 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.039 had a separate little uh probe, but it wasn't a 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.520 probe that would actually be invasive. He would just you 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.320 would hold it closer to the person. You would cover 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.000 it near a person. It would make a little bloom 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.279 kind of kind of noise. Yeah, and you you were 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.120 required that you were required to move your hand while 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:31.960 doing it. Right. It wasn't like you just held it 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.599 out to someone and you know, And this kind of 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.559 ties into our discussions about in science fiction, you often 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.400 have to have the actors do things so they don't 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.080 feel like total idiots just standing there. What type of 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.920 scanning device works better when you jiggle it around? Apparently 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.320 a tricorder does. In the Star Trek universe. And these 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.919 things look like giant cassette players. Do you get Do 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.320 you guys remember cassette players? Yeah? Yeah, the kind of 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.520 where you had to actually hit the stop ejective. Hey, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.880 we're from the eighties, not look, I'm just saying fourteen 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.919 and yeah, I'm just saying like, like like, by the 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.880 time you guys were around, there were more advanced versions 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.640 of the basic tape player available. When I'm thinking about 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.000 the old gray and silver ones that had the big 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.719 window that you hit and it would pop the cassette out, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:20.480 that's kind of what these early tricorders. Later next generation 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.120 it was more cell phone size. Yeah, okay, but surely 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.160 there's nothing like that in real life. Is there like 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.000 just this wonderful all purpose environmental medical sensor device. Well, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.360 there's certainly people working on making it a real thing. 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.200 We're we're not quite at the point where someone has 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.000 a device that has all the capability of the tricorder. 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.800 We certainly don't have one that is able to do 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.800 everything from diagnose a patient to tell you whether or 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.640 not there are toxins in the environment, to telling you 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.320 if someone had been there recently. We don't have anything 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.240 like that, but we do have lots of advanced sensors, 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.280 I mean, medical technology in general, at least the the 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.640 basic opponents have all evolved quite a bit over the 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.400 last couple of decades, although you may not see that 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.919 reflected in any individual hospitals technology. Some hospitals are relying 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.279 on technology that's uh, you know, several years old. Sure, well, 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.840 but you know, the the need for or the desire 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:23.000 for having non invasive technology, and especially noninvasive technology that 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.440 patients themselves could use at home is tremendous and and 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.520 that is where the X Prize comes in absolutely. So 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.320 you guys, before we even talk about the X Prize, 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:38.600 I mean, we've talked about wearables on this this show before, right, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.280 We've talked about wearables that can monitor things like your 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.440 heart rate. That sort of stuff very common, and it 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:50.360 shows that people are really interested in getting data about themselves. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.080 So the ex Prize is taking it to that next step. 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.960 The idea of not just you know, what your heart 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.760 rate is, but things like your respiration rate, how much 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.480 oxygen is actually in your blood, really interesting vitals that 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:08.200 go beyond this this sort of simplified approach that we 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.640 see in things like fitness trackers. But the fact that 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.000 fitness trackers are so popular shows that people are really 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.840 interested in this and that it could in fact be 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.000 a huge benefit if used responsibly. That's something that I'm 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.320 sure I'm going to mention a couple of times in 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.880 this episode because one of the things I like to 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.880 caution people about is don't ever assume that technology is 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:38.120 going to completely replace the experienced and informed opinion of 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.920 a medical professional. Oh, certainly not. And that's not that's 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.320 not what they're going for here, right, It's just that's 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.760 the way a lot of people tend to interpret it. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.200 It's not the fault of the organization. It's not the 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.520 fault of the different UH teams that are competing in 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:56.160 this process. But often we think, oh, I have this gadget, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.400 and now I don't ever have to worry about going 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.840 to a doctor unless something goes hard, doably wrong. We 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.240 have this kind of reactionary approach to medicine here in 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.320 the United States, and that's just something I don't want 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.560 to advocate for. UH. I would frame it more in 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.480 these terms. It's not so much that you have a 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.920 gadget that replaces a doctor, but you have a gadget 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.400 that replaces Google and hypochondria and and it also it 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.560 also can augment what a doctor is able to do 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.720 if you are able to go like if you start 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.360 to see something that worries you, you can go to 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.160 a doctor and say, I don't know what this means, 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.240 but this these are the readings and getting so does 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.800 this mean that there's something I should worry about? And 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:36.880 from that point for where the doctor can handle things 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.200 and make sure that you're getting the treatment you need 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.320 if you need it, you may not, And that's that's 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.240 the important thing to remember. Now. The really cool thing 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.320 is that you have this ex prize in the first place. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.640 And anyone who's been following technology and science has probably 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.559 heard of the ex prize. UH. It really started back 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.200 in the nineteen nineties, and the original focus of it 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:04.839 was to kind of kick start private space exploration projects, right. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.520 It was that whole prize of will give a certain 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.080 amount of money to whichever team can have a spacecraft 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.120 that can visit space within the span of two weeks. 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.680 This was before SpaceX and etcetera. Yeah, yeah, so this 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:19.840 is the sort of thing that was supposed to fuel 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.720 that kind of innovation and it worked. We now have 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.640 private companies that are working on developing stuff that goes 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.200 out into space, some of which, like SpaceX, has already 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:33.000 done it successfully a couple of times. So then you 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.760 had X Prizes come up for other types of uses 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:41.800 of technology, other innovation, not just space exploration, and one 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:46.160 of those was the the Tricorder Challenge, which is sponsored 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.960 by Qualcom. It has a ten million dollar prize for 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:54.040 whichever team can create a tricorder that performs according to 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:58.040 the contest criteria, and they set out exactly what this 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.760 device is supposed to be able to do, and they 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.200 leave a lot of the implementation up to the actual teams, 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.040 so no one is forced into a specific form factor 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.720 apart from some weight requirements. Right, So first you have 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:17.040 to be able to diagnose twelve required core health conditions. 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.880 Now I'm just gonna list some of these. These are 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:24.120 not all of them, but it includes anemia, diabetes, hepatitis, 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.880 a pneumonia, sleep apnea, tuberculosis. It has to be able 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.320 to detect all of those, so they're twelve in total, 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.720 and that's not an option. You have to figure out 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.680 how your device can detect such a thing present in 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:40.960 a patient that's using it, sure, and it also has 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.920 to be able to detect the absence of anything wrong, right, 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.000 It has to be able to tell you that if 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.680 the person uses it and they don't have any of 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.080 these conditions, that everything is far relatively normal and healthy, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.040 probably at least physically. Mentally. It's still just a roll 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.600 of the dice, folks. Now, on top of the twelve 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.560 required ones, you have to pick three elective conditions. So 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:08.240 this is like an elective in a college course where 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.360 you think, all right, you, these are the course requirements. 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:13.120 These are the courses you have to take in order 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.160 to graduate. And then here are the ones you can 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.440 choose from as your electives. Same sort of thing. So 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.920 they have to pick three of one of the following 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:26.720 and this is just a selection of them. Allergens, cholesterol screening, 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:34.319 food born illnesses, HIV screening, hypertension, melanoma, osteoporosis, pertussis, shingles 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.840 or strep throat and more. So you have to pick 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.160 three of those. Uh, there are a couple of other 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.920 choices that are also on the list, and then beyond that, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.000 the device must also be able to get accurate readings 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.040 on five vital signs, which those are blood pressure, heart rate, 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:55.520 oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and your body temperature. The prototype 0:11:55.520 --> 0:12:00.320 device cannot weigh more than five pounds, A big thing, Yeah, 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.200 because I mean it might be a lot easier to 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:07.360 do this if you build this giant right right, Yeah, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.520 you're or a bed like you Just the patient lays 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.000 in here and all the sensors are are part of 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.440 the bed, and then we lay this, you know, covering 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.520 over the has even more sensors on it. Obviously, that 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.520 would not win in this particular approach. Can the device 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:26.480 be a toilet? A toilet that weighs less than five pounds? 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.680 They actually do say that that the method of getting 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:34.440 this information is up to the individual company. But here's 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.560 the kicker. Consumer consumer use experience is also a factor 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.520 when it comes to judging the success or failure of 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.480 the tri quarter. So it's not prioritize things that are 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:49.199 less unpleasant, Yes, exactly, Yeah, so would a consumer want 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.199 to use this device? So if it's a device that's 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.800 going to require something like a blood sample that's going 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.240 to be a bigger challenge than something that is totally noninvasive. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.360 This means that the front teams have to take that 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.760 into consideration when they're making their designs. So it maybe 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.200 that you're able to get much more accurate information with 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.720 something that's invasive. But on the flip side, maybe people 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.760 wouldn't want to use it because it would mean having to, 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:17.960 you know, prick a finger or otherwise get a blood sample. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:23.040 Maybe that there's a disposable uh liquid container that's meant 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.440 for urine samples. In fact, I've heard of some that 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.760 do that. So that would be one of those cases 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:33.760 where you measure the benefit of the metric you're looking 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.040 for and the method you're looking you're using to look 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:40.000 for it versus our consumers actually going to do this 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.240 or will they be turned off by the idea. So 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.480 you have to judge that as well. And then eventually 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.320 they're going to have tests for these things. That's actually 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.200 coming up in two thousand fifteen. We're recording this in 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:57.840 early September two fourteen, so next year, as the recording 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.040 of this podcast, they will be putting these two to 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.800 tests and they'll be diagnostic tests to make sure the 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.920 device does what it's supposed to do, as well as 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.360 consumer tests to make sure that people would want to 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.280 use it, and if it does well in those tests, 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:16.000 then that's what sets it above the other competitors. Eventually, 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.200 the judges will make their decisions, they'll deliberate, and in 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.360 sometime in two thousand sixteen, there will be a complete 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.200 awards ceremony where they will announce which team came up 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.880 with the winning tricorder design UH. As a part of this, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.280 the FDA, the Food Drug and Drug Administration in the 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.840 United States, is also involved in this competition and is 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:41.840 discussing what sort of regulatory requirements would be in place 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.760 for them to get the device cleared by the FDA 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.760 so it could be used medically. And that means that 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.640 you have essentially the FDA working as a consultant in 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:56.480 your design process, which saves so much time. It's not 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.720 so much a um. You don't have to worry as 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.680 much about the submission process, the testing, and then they 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:04.080 get back to you and tell you what you have 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.120 to address in order to get FDA approval. I mean 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.240 that will still be part of it, but this helps 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.680 smooth out some of the potential roadblocks along the way, 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.720 which I think is pretty cool. Okay, well, so do 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.720 we have any idea yet who's actually in the running 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.520 and what they're working on. Yeah. It's actually kind of 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:26.080 funny because, um, when I recorded the video that goes 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.080 along with this audio podcast, I didn't realize that at 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.600 the time, but the ten finalist teams had just been 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.080 announced and I mean possibly that day, I think, yeah, 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.520 I And it just so happened that I was researching 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.440 GET the day the information it came out. I didn't 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.440 know it was brand new information. I thought, oh, well, 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.200 I guess these teams have been announced for a while, 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:47.520 because this competition has been was has been announced for 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.520 a couple of years, right, It's not like this is 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.760 brand new, y. I think when it was announced at 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.160 the time there were two dred and fifty five teams 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.200 in competition. Um, later that was a narrowed to four. Yeah, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.560 and it's now been whittled down to ten teams, so 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.320 ten teams are still competing. These teams had to make 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.800 a real commitment to be part of this competition. It's 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.760 not something that you can just enter for free. You 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.400 actually have to pay an entrance fee. Uh. And the 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.160 way the entrance fee worked was that the earlier you registered, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.160 the less expensive. The fee was began at five thousand dollars. 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.480 So when I say less expensive, I'm still talking about 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.040 a healthy chunk of change. Right. Some of these teams 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.720 are little divisions of various companies. Some of them are 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.880 partnerships between companies. But if you waited, if you dragged 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.720 your feet and you waited to register, at the end 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.760 of the period, you were paying around twenty five thousand 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.480 dollars for your team to be part of this competition. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:49.000 So pretty impressive call now and save now. Granted, keep 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.720 in mind, if you are the team that develops the 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.000 right piece of technology, it's a ten million dollar prize. 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.200 And here's the other interesting thing. I think about the 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.160 X Prizes. A lot of times the X Prize award 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.359 is less money than what it would have cost in 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.240 research and development to develop the the actual technology. Well, 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.240 but hopefully you're creating a piece of technology that you 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.840 that is a real investment. Yeah, it turns out that 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.920 I think a lot of teams compete not thinking oh, 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.000 we're going to make this huge amount of money at 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.280 the end of it, but rather they're competing because one 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:26.359 they really believe in the competition, they believe in the goal, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.760 right and to they realize that if they win, it's 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.359 not so much the money that's the big the big draw, 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:39.080 it's the fact that you are the ex prize winner exactly. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.800 Even just being a finalist, you might get some publicity, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.720 like we're about to give right now. Who are some 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:48.080 of these finals? All right? So from the United States, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.240 this is a global challenge, So we've got countries all 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.919 over the world that have teams participating. In the US 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.320 has the most teams that made it in the final 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:01.600 ten Uh to the tune of four teams Aison, d 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.200 m I, the final Frontier Medical Devices, Get That Star, 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.080 trek UH and Scana Do which start Olivia Newton John 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.240 was amazing. One of the first blog posts we ever 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.520 wrote for our website was about the Scanna Do Scout, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:20.639 wasn't it. Yeah, We'll actually have some some extensive quotes 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.399 from Lauren's blog post, which is, by the way, a 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.040 fantastic read. So it was written all the way back 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.359 in two thousand thirteen, but is still absolutely relevant. So 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.280 you should definitely if you haven't followed the forward thinking blogs. 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.280 Go check it out. There's some great stuff on there, 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.919 some of it even I wrote. So the United Kingdom 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:42.280 has two teams scan Nurse and sen Sore are both 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.960 from the UK. Then you have Canada's cloud d x UH, 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:53.040 and you have Slovenia's Messy Simplifying Diagnostics UH. From Taiwan 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.960 is Dynamical Bio Markers Group and from India is Davontry. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:59.479 So these are the teams that are left. These are 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.000 the final hen and they're all working on different implementations 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.840 of this. Some of them, like I said, require like 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.080 a blood sample, so that's going to make it a 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.520 more challenging approach. When it comes to that consumer use, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:16.840 which are the ones that require tears. You just want 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.440 someone to be weeping into a device, and that tells 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.120 you whether or not you're your Well, I'd probably rather 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.719 weep into a device than bleed into it. I can 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.639 understand that, but I think I think what would be 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:29.919 terrible is that I if I were making such a 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:33.359 device and you wept into it, the only result you 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.240 would ever get as it seems you are sad, and 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.480 that would be well, that's not helpful at all. The 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:45.720 future is in your tears. Well, the interesting one to 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.119 look at right now, I think, I mean, all of 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.720 these are interesting. But like you said, Joe, we we've 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.480 actually have someone here who's looked into the Scanna do 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.560 one specifically. Yeah, And they held an Indiego go campaign 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:04.520 back for a product called This's Going to Do Scout, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:06.560 which is not going to be the final product for 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:12.400 competition in in the tri quarter X Prize. However, it's 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.440 it's related certainly, and and it's a it's an interesting 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.439 funding project for the whole thing. The original goal for 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.439 the campaign was a hundred thousand dollars. Did they make it? 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.359 They raised one point six million? What high woe? Yeah, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.680 so it was doing okay for itself. And they also 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.640 raised another ten point five million in private financing. By 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.840 the end of that ten million X Prizes looking pretty good. 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.439 Uh So, this, this Scout is not really intended to 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:49.919 to be a diagnostic tool as much as a monitoring instrument. Right, 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:52.960 this isn't this like you said, this isn't their tri quarter. 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.399 This is this was something that's sort of a first step, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.920 like a good a good foundation to work toward a triquarder. 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.840 But it was really more about vital signs as opposed 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.720 to all this diagnostic stuff right right with it with 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:11.040 an emphasis on that non invasive kind of thing. Um. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.639 You know. It's it's this little gadget like like the 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.040 size of a of a makeup compact or a hockey 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.199 puck or something like that, and you hold it between 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.879 two fingers too specific fingers um, and hold it up 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:23.919 to your forehead and it can give you all of 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.359 this vital sign stuff and it will connect automatically to 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.760 an app that will record the data, can record it 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:31.760 over time for you can analyze it a little bit 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.520 and can let you upload it to your your doctor 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.720 eventually if if you need to. That is still in development, 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.080 So this is all kind of hypothetical, right, Well, that's 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.480 really cool stuff. I mean the idea that you yourself 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.080 are completing a circuit and that's what allows this device 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:49.600 to actually take those readings right right this This is 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:51.960 where that specific part comes in because it's the thumb 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.040 and four finger of your left hand, and so you're 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:59.520 completing this this bio circuit. Right electrodes touching the head 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:03.360 and one finger function as an electric cardiogram or ECG 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.720 that that measures your heart rate and rhythm against the 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:11.719 other finger. There's a photo thesmo graph or PPG. That 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.919 is a thing. Are you making this up? That? I 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:17.000 feel like I've talked about it on this very show 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:21.479 you probably over a year ago. There's a great so many, 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.440 so many syllables. All right, So what does that do? UM? 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.960 It reads your blood flow through your skin, usually using 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.560 lasers or some some other kind of light based thing, 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:37.960