US Department Of Defense Unveils Smart Wearable That Identifies Diseases

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), part of the US Department of Defense (DOD), developed a wearable device that helped to identify the spread of the infectious disease rapidly. It now plans to extend the gadget’s use to alert soldiers to other illnesses.

Dubbed the Rapid Assessment of Threat Exposure (RATE) project, the initiative will aid the force in being ready in the case of another outbreak. According to the DIU, the wearable works by using a powerful, predictive artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that’s trained on hospital-acquired data.

Similar to off-the-shelf smartwatches in the market, the machine-learning tool leverages a wearer’s biometric data to detect signs of illness. The RATE system was so efficient, it allowed for early detection of infections up to 48 hours before outwardly symptoms appeared.

In fact, the team reported that in certain cases, the algorithm predicted the onset of diseases up to six days in advance, including with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. Now, with US$10 million in additional funds, the plan is to build on the capabilities of the gadget after its initial success.

“The DOD invests heavily in maintaining the readiness of its workforce to conduct essential missions. However, the risk of infectious disease, like COVID-19, has long been an unpredictable variable,” explained Jeff Schneider, Program Manager for the RATE project.

“With RATE, the DOD can use commercial wearables to non-invasively monitor a service member’s health and provide early alerts to potential infection before it spreads,” he added.

[via Interesting Engineering and Department of Defense, images via various sources]