What: A software system that enables a low-resolution camera, such as a cheap webcam, to make a precise measurement of a user's pulse. Although scientists have already developed optical instruments to monitor heart rate, this is the first system that operates with a low-resolution camera and without special lighting.
Who and where: Doctoral degree candidate Ming-Zher Poh of the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology program developed the system with the aid of MIT Media Lab personnel.
The Future: Poh believes this technology will help assess patients who are not easily fit with electrodes and blood pressure cuffs, such as infants and burn victims. He is currently working to expand the system's capabilities to measure many other bodily phenomena so that a simple webcam will be able to measure blood oxygen levels, blood pressure and respiratory rate. Data from this system can be analyzed by a physician remotely, which may help to reduce health care costs and clinical traffic.
-compiled by Joshua McNamara
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