As COVID-19 continues to overtake the lives of many across the globe, and cases escalate in their size and magnitude, it becomes increasingly imperative that a solution is needed in order to battle the ongoing pandemic. Many pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and Moderna, urgently work to create a distributable and effective COVID-19 vaccine. While pharmacies continue to labor away at creating a vaccine, another solution involving something outside of the medical field has come to light; the use of artificial intelligence. Not only is artificial intelligence being used for the development of vaccines as pharmaceutical companies are doing, AI-based research from organizations such as Royal Philips and MIT are also making remarkable strides in developing technologies that are able to identify COVID-19 symptoms, and decrease the spread of the virus.
As a project that started last year in 2019, the Dutch corporation Philips and the U.S Department of Defense came together in partnership to expand the ongoing RATE (Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure) project, which now extends to COVID-19. The RATE approach uses “trade-space analyses across 165 different biomarkers from a rich Philips data set of over 41,000 cases of hospital acquired infection”. The technology in RATE also utilizes large data sets and machine learning in order to create wearable devices which are able to track vitals and capture biomarkers, and identifies pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals wearing the device. Especially in the awakening of the coronavirus, this research has never been so important and crucial to the safety of many. On June 16th of this year, the RATE system began clinical trials among many differing cohorts, specifically on the US’s military units. As the research and conduction of studies continues, there have been many key findings in facilitating a faster diagnosis and reducing the spreading of the coronavirus. One of the main discoveries from the RATE system has been the finding that when an individual is exposed to an infectious agent, there are subtle changes in the person’s physiology before they experience the symptoms. Because these wearables are capturing the vitals and health information of the individual, the biomarker data is then able to be processed in the cloud as a part of “Software as a Service (SaaS) model and allows users to see their hourly RATE score through a secure web site.” This allows the user to assess the results of their biomarker data, so the individual can alter their actions in order to reduce the possibility of infecting others, and enable themselves to go into quarantine, all in a much faster process which creates a safer environment for everyone.
The RATE project is one of the many studies which are striving to find solutions to COVID-19 by using artificial intelligence and modern technology, as many other companies and organizations follow in the same path as Philips, all in an effort to contain the unfortunate outcomes of the ongoing pandemic. By having a non-invasive approach, and data which can be understandable by the individual wearing the technology used to detect symptoms, innovations such as the RATE project have the potential to be worked with at a civilian level, and can provide a solution at a much wider capacity across the nation. This type of AI also allows for a more efficient and effective process in identifying if an individual has COVID-19, and greatly reduces the risk of spreading the virus while not being aware of the symptoms. This efficient early-warning system contains much of the unnecessary spread of the virus, while also helping the countless backed up hospitals across the county. By automating technology which can help millions across the globe, we are slowly inching towards a safer, and healthier future.
Authored by Surbhi Kumar
Philips. “The U.S. Department of Defense, Philips Expand Research on AI Technology.” Philips, Philips, 22 Sept. 2020, www.usa.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/press/2020/20200922-the-us-department-of-defense-philips-expand-research-on-groundbreaking-ai-technology-opening-new-front-in-battle-to-contain-covid-19.html.
mHealthIntelligence. “Philips, Defense Department Expand MHealth Project for Infection Tracking.” MHealthIntelligence, 22 Sept. 2020, mhealthintelligence.com/news/philips-defense-department-expand-mhealth-project-for-infection-tracking.