AI-powered telemonitor measures foot volume to spot heart failure

The technology’s infrared time of flight 3D camera automatically films a person’s bare feet for signs of peripheral oedema (foot swelling), which can present as a symptom of heart failure around two weeks prior to readmittance to hosptial.

The telemonitoring solution has been developed to mitigate against hospitalisation as the two-week window provides enough time to administer medication. According to the company, the solution could prevent up to 75 per cent of hospital readmissions.

Unlike traditional monitoring methods that rely on patient input, this system operates autonomously, capturing foot images multiple times a day without any active participation required from the patient. This data is then sent to the cloud for processing.

Dr Shamus Husheer, CEO and chief scientific officer Dr Oriane Chausiaux told The Engineer that the device is in its third generation, adding that the first version used Raspberry Pi cameras mounted on an aluminium bar.

“The problem with that is that you need a very wide baseline in order to get a certain uncertainty in depth,” said Dr Husheer. “But when people’s feet are close to you, you need a narrow baseline, otherwise you don't actually get any data, whereas time of flight cameras - which was the technology in the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox One cameras - have an approximately linear increase in noise with depth, as opposed to a quadratic increase in noise with depth.”