<story><title>Indian researchers create a Raspberry-Pi-based device to monitor health</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/rural-blood-test-analyser</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>CptFribble</author><text>This is actually how existing diagnostic machines work generally - mix blood or plasma with a reagent, incubate at body temp for some time, measure how the light properties of the sample (color, turbidity, depends on the test) change over time. Some tests measure 1 point at the end of the test, some measure several and construct a non-linear function.&lt;p&gt;The interesting part is that they&amp;#x27;re building a machine that can get accurate results with low-cost off-the-shelf components. State-of-the-art systems typically cost somewhere between 50k and 500k, which may or may not include service agreements (they break down all the time - wet chemistry) and ongoing costs for supplies.&lt;p&gt;I imagine the main wins in this area would be:&lt;p&gt;- built with low-cost&amp;#x2F;commodity components (done)&lt;p&gt;- small physical size for transport (done)&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   -- systems come in a variety of sizes from bedside to the size of a small car, depending on where you want to run them (operating suite&amp;#x2F;doctor&amp;#x27;s office vs central lab) and the volume you need.
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- expanded operating temperature and humidity&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   -- existing systems have fairly tight tolerances on humidity especially, all the systems I worked with had environmental sensors installed nearby.
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- low-power enough to run on batteries or small generators easily in remote environments&lt;p&gt;That these women are working their way down the list is impressive and much needed. As mentioned in the article, reagents are available commercially so that part is relatively &amp;quot;solved,&amp;quot; although depending on the test they can be quite expensive and have their own cold-storage and transport problems for remote areas. The other big problem is affordable control material to ensure the systems are still accurate, and calibration material to adjust system constants when they inevitably drift (same cost&amp;#x2F;storage&amp;#x2F;transport problems as reagents). Still though, I&amp;#x27;m glad they&amp;#x27;re making progress.&lt;p&gt;I look forward to more!&lt;p&gt;Source: worked in lab diagnostics for a while</text></comment>
<story><title>Indian researchers create a Raspberry-Pi-based device to monitor health</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/rural-blood-test-analyser</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>OJFord</author><text>With titles like this, I always think it must either be trivial nonsense, or (more likely!) the journalist just really missed the point.</text></comment>