IIT Madras-backed firm makes wearable tracker for early Covid-19 detection

The bluetooth-enabled product, priced at Rs 3,500, is expected to hit the market by June end

Muse Wearables, a start-up incubated by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), is developing a bluetooth-enabled tracker to monitor skin temperature, heart rate and SpO2 (Blood Oxygen saturation) sensing, activity data which help in early diagnosis of Covid-19.

The tracker can be connected to the mobile phone via an app called the Muse Health App. The body vitals of the users are stored in the phone as well as a remote server. Administrative access can also be provided for centralised monitoring of people in containment areas for Covid-19 symptoms.

The tracker can get notifications from the Arogya Setu App and raise an alert to the user when he enters a Covid-19 containment zone. The tracker will help to detect early hypoxia, a health condition in which the body or a part of the body does not get adequate oxygen supply, which is an early symptom of coronavirus infection even in asymptomatic patients, at an early stage. It will also help normal people in proactive monitoring of their health, a statement said added.

Muse Wearables has already completed product design for the tracker and is now working on fabricating the product. They have also initiated work on the manufacturing moulds. It will also be filing for intellectual property protection for the technology. The company hopes to bring out the first batch of finalised products in the next 20 days. The company is aiming to hit the market by the end of June 2020 with a price of around Rs 3,500 a device and plans to sell the wearable product in 70 countries where it already has sales. 

K Prathyusha, chief operating officer, and head of Hardware Engineering, Conzumex Industries, which operates the brand Muse Wearables, said, “Our main objective with this product is to facilitate identification of patients who have COVID pneumonia sooner so that they can be treated more effectively. We are developing algorithms to estimate body temperature from skin and ambient temperature, heart rate and motion sensing." This will also help the general public for proactive health monitoring along with fitness tracking and sleep tracking.

Ajay Yathindra, CPO, Conzumex Industries said, “Our Muse Health App has the ability to get notifications from other Apps and send it to our tracker. Upon receiving notifications, the tracker will vibrate and indicate via LED to update the user. So users can opt to get notifications from Aarogya Setu App, in order to not miss any important alerts related to COVID.”

George Francis, CTO, Conzumex Industries said that the company has created its backend such that users can trigger an SOS alert in case of emergencies, which will be followed up through teleconsultations, thereby enabling us to provide an end-to-end proactive health monitoring system to the users. It is also creating a Digital Health ID for every user so that users can choose to share their health data with others like doctors etc by providing access to their health ID. It is also useful in automatic activity tracking (such as steps, calories, distance), automatic sleep tracking with battery life of up to four weeks on a single charge, among others.