App developed by Singapore start-up Nervote can check vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels and respiration rate

Smartphone app developed by Singapore start-up Nervote can check vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, respiration rate, and even stress levels using artificial intelligence-based technology.

The Nervote app uses remote photo plethysmography (rPPG) and AI to capture and analyse the user’s vitals.

The process involves scanning the persons face by measuring the differences in reflectivity of light that hits the skin, enabling the app to detect different pulse rates of the body.

The aim of the technology is to help companies adjust to the ‘new norms’ and prevent any future health crisis. Nervotec also states that its technology can help offer a “diagnosis to the user’s health condition.

Director of national university of Singapore’s institute of Health innovation and Technology, Professor Chwee Tech Lim says:

So what Nervotec is proposing could potentially be a game-changer, they are trying to use the smartphone camera coupled with an AI-driven app, to capture an image of the face then thereafter be able to measure the vital signs. So currently, I think they claim that they can obtain accuracy of down to two beats per minute for heart rate, and also two percentage in terms of oxygen saturation. But it remains to be seen, I think we still have to go through this FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulatory test before we can determine how accurate this technology is.”

There is significant interest in the technology from both private and public healthcare providers as it can help provide constant remote patient monitoring – without needing additional equipment or manpower.