$10M Tricorder X PRIZE Kicks off

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

$10M Tricorder X PRIZE Kicks off

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday January 12, 2012 @05:01AM from the i'm-a-doctor-not-an-angry-birds-machine dept.

Back in May, we heard about Qualcomm's plans to hammer out details for an X PRIZE competition to invent a Star Trek-style tricorder. Now, reader Sven-Erik sends word that the requirements have been finalized and the competition has launched. "As envisioned for this competition, the device will be a tool capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases. Metrics for health could include such elements as blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. Ultimately, this tool will collect large volumes of data from ongoing measurement of health states through a combination of wireless sensors, imaging technologies, and portable, non-invasive laboratory replacements. Given that each team will take its own approach to design and functionality, the device's physical appearance and functionality may vary immensely from team to team. Indeed, the only stated limit on form is that the mass of its components together must be no greater than five pounds."

83 of 111 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I'm making an Android app... by FlopEJoe · 2012-01-12 05:05 · Score: 4, Funny

You start it up and it prints: "It's Lupus"
1. Re:I'm making an Android app... by kelarius · 2012-01-12 07:14 · Score: 1
  
  Then the machine is an idiot.
  
  --
  Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
2. Re:I'm making an Android app... by drjoe1e6 · 2012-01-12 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  It's NEVER lupus!
  
  --
  Lose = not win ...... Loose = not tight
3. Re:I'm making an Android app... by tlhIngan · 2012-01-12 10:05 · Score: 1
  
  It's NEVER lupus!
  It was Lupus. Once. It was touched off with "I finally have a case of lupus".
  That's why "It could be lupus" never comes up anymore.
4. Re:I'm making an Android app... by uninformedLuddite · 2012-01-12 19:01 · Score: 1
  
  ataxia
  
  --
  The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
i'm going to win. by notgm · 2012-01-12 05:06 · Score: 5, Funny

i'm building an ER in a zeppelin.
1. Re:i'm going to win. by manoweb · 2012-01-12 05:17 · Score: 2
  
  Apparently they specified mass, not weight :)
2. Re:i'm going to win. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  They said mass, but used "pounds" as their unit of measurement, which is odd because imperial pounds only measure weight, not mass. So, er Zeppelin? Maybe....
3. Re:i'm going to win. by Great+Gravy · 2012-01-12 05:28 · Score: 2
  
  I hope the er Zeppelin plays "Sick Again" when it finds something wrong.
4. Re:i'm going to win. by BoberFett · 2012-01-12 05:31 · Score: 2
  
  Oh the humanity!
5. Re:i'm going to win. by next_ghost · 2012-01-12 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  Really? AFAIK U.S. pounds are defined from kilogram which is a unit of mass, not weight.
6. Re:i'm going to win. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 06:17 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Not so. There are two systems:
  pounds (force) and slugs (mass)
  poundals (force) and pounds (mass)
  The first is the more common.
7. Re:i'm going to win. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 17:54 · Score: 1
  
  And a pound (mass) subjected to standard earth gravity creates a force equal to a pound (force in either system). So specifying a mass of 5 pounds is pretty straightforward.
  It's really not any more confusing than the fact that metric countries frequently refer to forces in kilograms.
Does it have to make the sound? by ciderbrew · 2012-01-12 05:13 · Score: 3, Funny

I hope it has to make the sound.
/or it could go ping; but it wouldn't be the same.
1. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by nine-times · 2012-01-12 05:24 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  No, it can't go "ping". That's one of the requirements for the X-Prize for the Timey-Wimey detector: goes "ping" when there's stuff.
2. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by networkBoy · 2012-01-12 05:34 · Score: 1
  
  How about "Bing" or is that still under (C) by Monty Python?
  
  --
  whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
3. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by The+Grim+Reefer · 2012-01-12 05:53 · Score: 2
  
  How about "Bing" or is that still under (C) by Monty Python?
  No, Microsoft.
4. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  It's not like we're expecting some sort of Bing inquisition
5. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by JSC · 2012-01-12 06:53 · Score: 2
  
  No one expects the Bing inquisition!
  
  --
  Time's fun when you're having flies. - Kermit the Frog
6. Re:Does it have to make the sound? by roc97007 · 2012-01-12 07:14 · Score: 1
  
  The problem is, if it makes a sound the Klingons will discover where you're hiding.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The HypoSpray X-Prize can't be far away. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 05:22 · Score: 1

Borg implants can cause severe skin irritations. Perhaps you'd like an analgesic balm.....
Re:NASA, is that you? by tag · 2012-01-12 05:23 · Score: 4, Informative

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass)
sound too? by almostadnsguy · 2012-01-12 05:23 · Score: 2

Does it also have to make that 1960's cool StrarTrek sound?
Innovation by Tyr07 · 2012-01-12 05:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

Events like this are really great, it really spurs innovation.
It encourages people to think outside the box and build something normally only researched if there's great market value. If companies are making fair change with current products, they'll milk research till later and slowly release tech to keep the market at the right level of saturation.
The fact that a reward to cover research expenses and advance technology like that is just out there is great. It might not be perfect, whatever is developed, but it's a start in a good direction. It might not be a mass marketed product, the original anyway, but that 10 mill will at least get the ball rolling.
1. Re:Innovation by denis-The-menace · 2012-01-12 06:02 · Score: 1
  
  RE: Events like this are really great, it really spurs innovation.
  No, that's what patents were invented for. /Maniacal laughter
  
  --
  Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
2. Re:Innovation by ae1294 · 2012-01-12 10:02 · Score: 2
  
  My entry is ready now. It's a hollowed out brick of lead with a flap on one side and a display screen painted on the other. The screen reads 'acute radiation poisoning'. The devices inner working are a trade secret.
3. Re:Innovation by grep_rocks · 2012-01-12 10:16 · Score: 1
  
  $10M probably does not even come close to covering the R&D costs for something like this, if it is even possible (I can't access the sit through my corporate firewall) - I suspect it will provide no incentive for anyone serious - it would be a rip off for everyone who competes and does not win, what a great way to get 100M in reseach for only 10M, because you would not have to pay for all the blind alleys the losers went down, if they want it they should just pay for the god-damn research and do it themselves - I speak as a professional medical researcher
4. Re:Innovation by Tyr07 · 2012-01-12 10:33 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, it must have seemed like I was implying it would be a sufficiently reliable tool to place into medical use immediately and start production.
  It never said anything about accuracy margins or what illnesses it had to detect. With that in mind, you can probably develop something that is functional and can potentially identifying fifteen different diseases within a certain percentage of accuracy.
  I'm sure they have rules for accuracy, but not knowing what they are means there's a chance that the device does not need to match the skills of a doctor or any other medical device / test designed exclusively to detect a particular disease.
  Obviously if the design was innovative enough, to push it into practical and safe use, including licensing, FDA testing etc, would cost a lot more.
5. Re:Innovation by MickLinux · 2012-01-12 16:19 · Score: 2
  
  Nonsense. The trick is to find standard technologies that can read and predict diseases.
  (1) Laser or infrared thermometer. Check.
  (2) Some form of paper chromatography tests. Get 'em from your hardware store. Check.
  (3) Various voltage electrode readings. Have your doctor give you an EKG in the standard physical, and take home with you the electrodes. Check.
  (4) A videocamera, an optical fine-focus camera, and a lenseless PenCam camera with interchangeable filters, to view the body at different wavelengths, including IR, or to finely examine such things as the eyes.
  (5) A twisted wire thermometer, and a mirror-vapor hygrometer, to measure water vapor emitted.
  (6) A couple of various speakers and microphones, one to listen to normal frequencies (like breathing, talking), and a couple others for sound imaging.
  (7) Lots and lots of programming. Ideally the tricorder should talk to the person, and listen to their answers, including such things as, "what seems to be the problem?" to get symptoms that it can look up.
  It seems to me all these things are easily available, and could be incorporated. I suspect that the 15 diseases will include some easy ones, and some very hard ones. One just has to beat the other tricorders. One doesn't have to solve every problem.
  My guess is that a team that included a CNA nurse, an RN, a family doctor, an electronics whiz kid, and about 5 programmers, probably could come up with the winning solution.
  Also, don't forget that you can use patented technologies (such as the chromatography) as long as you buy it from the store. You *do* have to find a way to sequentially test and pull them.
  
  --
  Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
6. Re:Innovation by MickLinux · 2012-01-12 16:21 · Score: 1
  
  Nonsense. The trick is to find standard technologies that can read and predict diseases.
  (1) Laser or infrared thermometer.
  (2) Some form of paper chromatography tests. Get 'em from your pharmacy .
  (3) Various voltage electrode readings. Have your doctor give you an EKG in the standard physical, and take home with you the electrodes. Check.
  (4) A videocamera, an optical fine-focus camera, and a lenseless PenCam camera with interchangeable filters, to view the body at different wavelengths, including IR, or to finely examine such things as the eyes.
  (5) A twisted wire thermometer, and a mirror-vapor hygrometer, to measure water vapor emitted.
  (6) A couple of various speakers and microphones, one to listen to normal frequencies (like breathing, talking), and a couple others for sound imaging.
  (7) Lots and lots of programming. Ideally the tricorder should talk to the person, and listen to their answers, including such things as, "what seems to be the problem?" to get symptoms that it can look up.
  It seems to me all these things are easily available, and could be incorporated. I suspect that the 15 diseases will include some easy ones, and some very hard ones. One just has to beat the other tricorders. One doesn't have to solve every problem.
  My guess is that a team that included a CNA nurse, an RN, a family doctor, an electronics whiz kid, and about 5 programmers, probably could come up with the winning solution.
  Also, don't forget that you can use patented technologies (such as the chromatography) as long as you buy it from the store. You *do* have to find a way to sequentially test and pull them.
  
  --
  Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
7. Re:Innovation by ckostovny · 2012-01-13 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  (7) Lots and lots of programming. Ideally the tricorder should talk to the person, and listen to their answers, including such things as, "what seems to be the problem?" to get symptoms that it can look up.
  Wouldn't "Please state the nature of the medical emergency" be more apropos?
Re:Worth more than $10m! by quintus_horatius · 2012-01-12 05:32 · Score: 1

Why must one need something in order to want it?
Will this do? by na1led · 2012-01-12 05:35 · Score: 1

http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/blog/Image/tricorder.jpg

--
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
About time by paleo2002 · 2012-01-12 05:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

This sounds great and all, but it seems a shame that they've got to bribe people into developing such a device. A portable, multi-purpose medical diagnostic tool isn't sufficiently desirable on its own? You'd think something like this would have been in development for years already.
1. Re:About time by PPH · 2012-01-12 05:41 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Dammit Jim! I'm a doctor, not a venture capitalist!
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
2. Re:About time by greap · 2012-01-12 06:40 · Score: 1
  
  > This sounds great and all, but it seems a shame that they've got to bribe people into developing such a device. A portable, multi-purpose medical diagnostic tool isn't sufficiently desirable on its own? You'd think something like this would have been in development for years already.
  
  It has been. The x prizes are about encouraging startups and outsiders to the fields in question to become involved and so both bring fresh eyes to the problem and provide an influx of tallent in to a specific sub-sector of an industry. With publicly funded efforts (NiH) and alike things get even more murky with various restrictions on how resultant technologies would be used.
  
  An existing multinational funding a project like this internally would be mired in beurocracy and would be competing with internal politics where people have established their careers supporting and selling older forms of diagnostic equipment. A startup doesn't face these, can be run on a shoestring, and in addition the prise money and the massive publicity winning would bring provides a massive boost in their attempts to recieve funding.
3. Re:About time by joshamania · 2012-01-12 06:46 · Score: 1
  
  Allow me to introduce you to a little concept we in the real world call "economic incentive".
4. Re:About time by paleo2002 · 2012-01-12 08:15 · Score: 1
  
  Building the 21st century's answer to the stethoscope - multipurpose, portable, everyone uses it - isn't enough incentive? Actually, it probably isn't these days. Nobody is interested in taking real risks.
Cellphones by gmuslera · 2012-01-12 05:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

Why dedicated tricorders if you have cellphones? Carrying an "intelligent" device with a lot of "awareness" already (accelerometers, magnetometers, gps, etc), adding them a few more that take existing input (i.e. measuring elements in breath when you are answering a call, or from your hand when you are holding it) should not be that hard. The key here is more to make compact enough sensors to that kind of use. Of course, you can have also devices on your body taking measurements and communicating with the phone by bluetooth too.
1. Re:Cellphones by praxis · 2012-01-12 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  They are aiming for under 5 lbs, that's an awful lot of weight to add to a 5 oz phone. A sixteen-fold increase might be a bit much to say one is adding medical instrumentation to a phone--it might be more accurate to say one is adding a phone to a medical instrument.
2. Re:Cellphones by drinkypoo · 2012-01-12 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  One step at a time. Virtual laser keyboards and laser projectors are cool but what we really want is to have them in our cellphones or other portable devices so that we don't have to whip out a peripheral. But being able to buy a separate one satisfies the early adopters now and paves the way for the tech to become more ubiquitous and cheaper and hopefully eventually smaller as well.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
*medical* by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 05:44 · Score: 5, Informative

*medical* tricoder they mean.
1. Re:*medical* by dryo · 2012-01-12 19:17 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed, and it comes with the Feinberg accessory sensor
MEDICAL tricorder by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 05:49 · Score: 1

Technically this is a medical tricorder.
The tricorder that Spock uses to analyze planetary atmosphere and find several beings moving beyond that ridge is what I want.
But actually that's already been made: http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0996September/Sparky/tricorder.html
Already made this... by tekrat · 2012-01-12 05:56 · Score: 4, Funny

But, it diagnoses everyone who's ever even HEARD of a "tricorder" with A.D.D.

--
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
1. Re:Already made this... by Hillgiant · 2012-01-12 09:13 · Score: 1
  
  Hey! I've heard of a "tricorder" and I don't have ... oh look, a chicken.
  
  --
  -
Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by michaelmalak · 2012-01-12 06:01 · Score: 5, Interesting

Wikipedia's article on Noninvasive glucose monitor:

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in companies who have sought the solution to this long-standing problem, and the search has been peppered with false starts, premature announcements of success and outright chicanery on the part of some investigators. However, most of the researchers in this field have been genuinely interested in helping those with diabetes find a less painful and more convenient way to measure their blood glucose.
Approaches that have been tried include near infrared spectroscopy (measuring glucose through the skin using light of slightly longer wavelengths than the visible region), transdermal measurement (attempting to pull glucose through the skin using either chemicals, electricity or ultrasound), measuring the amount that polarized light is rotated by glucose in the front chamber of the eye (containing the "aqueous humor"), and many others.

And that's just one parameter. A useful tricorder would cost billions of dollars to make, not just $10 million.
1. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by interval1066 · 2012-01-12 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  A useful tricorder would cost billions of dollars to make, not just $10 million.
  Agreed. Think of the number of tests it would need to do non-invasively; I believe one of the functions of the tricorder on the show seemed pretty much the same as an MRI scan. MRI scans only work becuase you surround the patient with a powerful magnetic field, and that's NOT coming with a hand-held device.
  
  One point for the advent of the tricorder is in some ways I would argue the tricorder is actually out of date. If I also recall from the show, Star Fleet had an array of these devices for specialized funtions. One was the medical application, which we've discussed, and I distinctly recall Spock having one that seemed to be more for science apps. We already have cell phones at 1/4 the size of the show's tricorder that can do many science-like measurements, GPS, weather information, distance measurments (Luke's binoculars from Star Wars, I have such an app on my phone), all kinds of IP detection, etc..
  
  --
  Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
2. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by someSnarkyBastard · 2012-01-12 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  True, but the PR windfall is much more valuable than the prize money. The publicity stirred up by claiming the prize would mean lots of exposure (and thus - more importantly in an emerging market - mindshare) through news programs, magazine articles, Google search results, etc. Also, I'd wager that if you can point to your X Prize during a sales pitch to hospitals, the US Military, or FEMA your claims suddenly get a lot more credibility so you're more likely to recoup those R&D costs through big contracts. Just getting the military alone to sign on would likely guarantee a massive cash-flow, every medical corpsman in the field would be issued one of these.
3. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-12 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  You can do an MRI with the Earth's magnetic field, it's just the SNR goes to pot and you get crappier scans. There are people working on low magnetic field image capture machines using NMR technology. Look at this: http://www.news-medical.net/news/2008/07/08/39842.aspx
  You can also have small coil MRI units: http://medgadget.com/2005/05/mayo_clinic_bc1.html
4. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by inflamed · 2012-01-12 07:37 · Score: 1
  
  The best solution would be a portable low-power high-field NMR (OK, I might as well ask for a flying unicorn). You can detect characteristic resonances for a gazillion compounds and through TOCSY isolate them from other signals. IMO 50% of diagnostic medicine or more could be done with NMR.
5. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by apcullen · 2012-01-12 11:28 · Score: 1
  
  This is an excellent point, but to counter it I would say that all of the space ships that were designed for the first x-prize competition must surely have cost much more than the $10 Million prize.
6. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by KlaymenDK · 2012-01-12 23:54 · Score: 1
  
  This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been closed.
  They go on to say "Sorry about that" but I'm not convinced they are. Anyway, you might want to update you sig.
  
  --
  "Good news, everyone!"
7. Re:Hundreds of million$ already on just glucose by Coren22 · 2012-01-13 02:14 · Score: 1
  
  Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In production they dropped the Nuclear because people are scared of nuclear stuff and felt people wouldn't use the machine if they thought it produced radiation. From reading, I am understanding it has more to do with nuclei, and not radiation, so that was probably a wire choice.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Boy, do I have news for you... by denzacar · 2012-01-12 06:06 · Score: 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector

--
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by Grishnakh · 2012-01-12 06:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

Asking people what's wrong with them isn't exactly an unbiased way of finding out what's really wrong with them. Their knowledge is full of errors (as it's reliant upon their memory, which is severely flawed), and they may not even feel things that are wrong with them. We need a way of doing a star trek-style scan of them to find out what's really wrong with them, instead of wasting time with their hypochondriacal problems.
As for taking someone's weight, you really think that asking people what they weigh is an accurate way of getting that information? I guess surgical centers should just take out their high-precision scales (used to get the patient weight right before surgery so the anesthesiologist can calculate the correct dosage so they don't kill the patient), and just ask the people what they weigh instead!! If a patient's home scale is off by 10%, or they don't want to admit to themselves that they're really 200 pounds and instead say they're 160, that'll be OK, right?
Even family medical history isn't very good data. A patient may be adopted, or a patient may not realize that the person who he believes is his father actually isn't (studies have shown that something like 10-15% of people were fathered by someone else; i.e., the mother had an affair and never told anyone). So the patient might be worried because all his relatives on his "father's" side have some condition and thinks he'll have it too, but he's actually not biologically related.
With semiconductor-based DNA scanning right over the horizon, yes, we should be working to build an MRI, centrifuge, and DNA lab into a five-pound box, and not waste time trying to make an accurate diagnosis with someone saying "my leg hurts!".
It's not pretty when they blow. by DarthStrydre · 2012-01-12 06:20 · Score: 1

Bonus if it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not.
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by Dishevel · 2012-01-12 06:21 · Score: 1

House says people lie.

--
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by guruevi · 2012-01-12 06:30 · Score: 1

I agree. Working in an MRI environment, some people have piercings in the usual places (genital area, nipple) and then discreetly ask one person accompanying them something about it but not mention it on their screening forms.

--
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by Fnord666 · 2012-01-12 06:46 · Score: 2

I agree. Working in an MRI environment, some people have piercings in the usual places (genital area, nipple) and then discreetly ask one person accompanying them something about it but not mention it on their screening forms.
I assume you can guess what is pierced from the pitch of their screaming?

--
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by jkyrlach · 2012-01-12 06:47 · Score: 2

Sure, the patient is biased, but the information they have is still valuable. I have never been to the dr where they didn't ask me questions. A Dr. is good at weeding out red herrings, knowing where to get clarification, which statements to get clarification on. Sure, patients lie, but technology is not a great solution for that problem. Will your tricorder really be bale to see that they really do use drugs or really are an alcoholic? Be realistic guys. I was just trying to say that as far as the basic indicators -- weight, height, blood pressure, temperature -- we have good enough tech already. Unless this contest is going to produce a box that does the magical thing that a tricorder can do, ie MRI in a box, then I think we could advance the medical profession much further by focusing on things like Watson.
we had some in highschool by ILongForDarkness · 2012-01-12 07:12 · Score: 1

http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0996September/Sparky/tricorder.html I think that was the one we had. Really dorky one of a kind science class where we measured emf, geopositioned things (before public access to GPS), etc. Thing did temperature, emf, voltmeter stuff if you had the attachments I think, had a colour spectrum analyzer (so you could hold it up to something and it would tell you the rgb values).
sensors on a micro-USB device by roc97007 · 2012-01-12 07:19 · Score: 1

I want to see the sensor pack on a thumb-drive-sized micro-USB device that can plug into any smartphone... um, sorry, *many* smartphones... Then tell CBS to stop screwing with Kenneth Lakin and turn him loose on it.
Ooooh oooh oooh, make the sensor pack a Bluetooth device that looks vaguely like a chrome cigarette lighter!

--
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
1. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by roc97007 · 2012-01-12 09:16 · Score: 1
  
  I can't realistically take credit. What made me think of it was Lakin's excellent Tricorder app for Android (previously PalmOS) [1] which actually did useful things; only hampered by the device's lack of sensors.
  [1] Shut down by CBS for copyright infringement or somesuch. As I understand the story, Roddenberry explicitly granted permission to use the concept, later rescinded by the network.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
2. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by KlaymenDK · 2012-01-12 23:56 · Score: 1
  
  There's an Android app as well...
  https://market.android.com/details?id=biz.lakin.android.apps.tricorder
  
  --
  "Good news, everyone!"
3. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by Coren22 · 2012-01-13 02:19 · Score: 1
  
  It is a great app, I am glad that the Android (Data?) market didn't uninstall it from my phone when that happened.
  I don't quite get the Cell phone to communicator comparisons though, a cell phone requires an enormous infrastructure to work, the communicators just worked. The best comparison I would make would be sat phones, with the Enterprise being the sat, but the communicators even worked unit to unit when they were unable to get a signal to the Enterprise.
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
4. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by roc97007 · 2012-01-13 02:24 · Score: 1
  
  Not to be too geeky, but I'd imagine the Enterprise routinely releasing several satellites when it moved into orbit to provide a communications and sensor infrastructure. But you're right, the communicators were intended to be used in the wild, so they would have to have the capability to communicate unit-to-unit also.
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
5. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by Tastecicles · 2012-01-14 20:49 · Score: 1
  
  voice-controlled DCS scrambling for preprogrammed connections? With a link to a respository/directory of remote DCS codes?
  We got the technology for that ~NOW~. Problem is it's in a few separate devices: personal radio transceivers (DCS/CTCSS scrambling/filtering), cellphones (network terminals and (for several years now) voice dialing), 192.com (directory services)... it doesn't need a cloud of satellites (that would end up creating a hazard around the planet), all it needs is a data connection to update the units' repository before debarcation.
  Bit like programming your phone or your VX-5R (best HAM radio ever, IMHO).
  
  --
  Operation Guillotine is in effect.
6. Re:sensors on a micro-USB device by roc97007 · 2012-01-15 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  I think we're getting wrapped up in orders of magnitude here. A cloud of satellites is definitely not necessary, just a few in geo or pole-to-pole orbits, and as Adams so famously said, "space is big", even the space immediately around a planet, compared to the size of a communications satellite. No reasonable danger of a hazard, especially on a frontier planet, unless we're talking decades of dumping junk into orbits that don't decay in a reasonable amount of time. One could even imagine recalling satellites on departure. Might actually stipulate it, to avoid inadvertently sharing advanced tech with non-members.
  Yes I know we have that problem here -- see "dumping junk into orbit for decades".
  
  --
  Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
CBS... by roc97007 · 2012-01-12 07:21 · Score: 1

So... won't CBS sue the hell out of the winner?

--
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Re:Can't look like one by Grave · 2012-01-12 07:26 · Score: 1

You mean like how modern tablets like the iPad aren't allowed to look like the tablets used in Star Trek?
Oh, wait...
Use your imagination by arcite · 2012-01-12 07:51 · Score: 1

Picture yourself in a refugee camp where you have thousands of people you must diagnose in the quickest way possible. Are you going to have time to give each one a five minute interview to discuss their symptoms...or is it just quicker to do a scan with a handheld device to diagnose ten or more diseases with 100% accuracy? The beauty of a medical tricorder device is that it could operated by non-medical professionals. Individuals could be trained to use the device and they could be deployed by the thousands to remote areas with little infrastructure, connected via internet. The savings from lab tests alone would make such a device nothing short of revolutionary.
1. Re:Use your imagination by jkyrlach · 2012-01-12 08:06 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sorry, that's not going to happen. You could make something identify 10 or more symptoms, but no way will you get a five pound something diagnose any ten diseases with 100% accurtacy -- the diseases would have to be completely diagnosable from the surface of the patient, and even then, i bet you are going to need the software that i talked about in original post that can parse pictures to identify ailments. I don't get what you guys are saying: This contest is about producing a better medical swiss army knife -- if that's what's keeping those poor refugees from getting treated, then ok, go for it. but i think a lot more people could be helped by focusing on artificial diagnostic intelligence, using something like watson.
Not exactally a bribe by nurb432 · 2012-01-12 08:07 · Score: 1

More like 'chance' funding.

--
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Re:NASA, is that you? by CommieLib · 2012-01-12 08:23 · Score: 1

Let's hope they don't confuse it with kilograms, or else it will burn up in the Martian atmosphere.

--
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Climate Change... by DarthVain · 2012-01-12 08:58 · Score: 2

The word "tricorder" is a portmanteau of "tri-" and "recorder", referring to the device's three default scanning functions: GEO (geological), MET (meteorological), and BIO (biological).
Not sure what the Geological setting might say.
1. Re:Climate Change... by idontgno · 2012-01-12 10:32 · Score: 1
  
  Ummm...
  "The Earth has lupus?"
  
  --
  Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
i think... by hitmark · 2012-01-12 12:25 · Score: 1

there may be one company already making a fuzz about their pocket sized medical sensor.
Ah yes, found the article: http://singularityhub.com/2011/12/24/scanadu-raises-2m-for-medical-tricorder-video/

--
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
What are the 15 diseases? by JumperCable · 2012-01-12 13:12 · Score: 1

I don't see it spelled out anywhere.
Re:Complete waste of effort.... by MickLinux · 2012-01-12 16:28 · Score: 1

Will your tricorder be able to tell that they use drugs or really are an alcoholic? Image the nose and eyes. Perform a time-based FFT on the fingers as they sit there. Take a look at the IR frequency. Take an FFT on the voice.
I don't think it requires magic. I think a lot of the stuff *is* solvable with image analysis, and has already been developed by defense electronics companies. Take a look at the techs on display at embedded computing and RISC tech fairs.

--
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
I have the solution. by Tastecicles · 2012-01-12 18:03 · Score: 1

Netbook: 2lb. Check.
It has a camera. It has a microphone. It has two other input devices (keyboard, touchpad), sometimes three (fingerprint reader). For external sensors, you have one or two USB ports. Pop in a rat tail for a finger pulse oximeter. Kick up the internet connection for the NHS Home Diagnostics page (right here).
I think that surpasses the requirements somewhat.
Epic win.
Where's my prize?

--
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Trekking along... by tchall · 2012-01-12 23:37 · Score: 1

They'd better watch out... Paramount is VERY jealous of that "Tricorder" word... The Android application that actually enabled some of those functions got smashed...
Re:I really would like a live-on voice translator. by Coren22 · 2012-01-13 02:21 · Score: 1

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greenleaf.android.translator.enes.a&hl=en
It has been done.

--
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?