X Prize Foundation Offers $10 Million For a Tricorder to Diagnose Patients

05-12-2011 • http://www.popsci.com/

Labs-on-a-chip are useful tools for diagnosing diseases, but most can only pick out one or two sickness signatures amid an array of symptoms. The X Prize Foundation, responsible for innovation challenges in anything from spacecraft to oil spills, wants an all-purpose mobile device that can diagnose a patient better than a doctor. A tricorder!

The foundation and wireless gadget-maker Qualcomm Inc. are hosting a $10 million prize to develop a mobile diagnostic device, which they really are calling a tricorder. It would combine wireless sensor technology, medical imaging, microfluidics and more.

The device would allow users to quickly assess someone’s health information and determine whether they need professional help. The goal is to diagnose people as well as or better than a panel of board-certified physicians, according to the X Prize people. Users would conceivably breathe into some sort of device or give a blood or urine sample, and the device would give an initial diagnosis.