MEDICINEThe DxtER from Final Frontier Medical Devices has won the Tricorder XPrize,
a $7m grant to develop an all-purpose medical diagnostic device along the lines
of the ‘tricorder’ used in Star Trek.
The Tricorder XPrize competition was launched in January 2012, as a joint venture
between the XPrize Foundation (whose directors include Google founder Larry Page
and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington) and US telecoms giant Qualcomm.
And, now, Final Frontier’s device has been chosen as a winner, even though
the DxtER isn’t actually particularly tricorder-like at all.
Rather than being one single multipurpose device, DxtER consists of several
discreet components, including heart rate and respiration monitors, a compact
spirometer, and a dual-purpose thermometer and stethoscope called the DxtER Orb.
Plus, the DxtER system has been designed – unlike the Star Trek tricorder – for use
by patients themselves rather than by medical professionals.
Final Frontier is currently seeking approval from the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for its devices. If such approval is granted, treatment times
in hospitals could be reduced as there’d be no need for doctors to repeat tests
that had already been carried out by the patient at home using DxtER.
FINAL FRONTIER WINS
TRICORDER XPRIZE
Star Trek’s tricorder
inspired a quest to
create a real version