Wearables & Chatbots : The Future Health Monitors

In the current situation where COVID 19, a global pandemic, is plaguing global health affecting millions of lives all over the world, technology has come to the rescue. 

Digital technology is being widely used to help limit the spread of coronavirus. Digital tools such as telehealth, smart sensors, wearables, and even consumer-facing AI-based chatbots are playing a key role in containing the outbreak of COVID-19 within limits and helping people who think they've been exposed to the novel coronavirus.

Wearables, smart sensors, and chatbots are all there to help combat the virus by serving as a health tech for a daily check-up and can warn people of any symptoms of the novel COVID-19 virus. In efforts to maintain a check over the person's health status: body temperature or heart rates etc, these smart tech tools are doing a great job.

As the COVID-19 virus can spread through asymptomatic people who might not realize they are sick, health monitoring through these technologies can help at a basic low level before any major testing of the virus. 

As now people are gradually starting the process of resuming the daily work routines, they need to keep caution. Wearables and sensors can be the best partners in this, serving as a helping tool to keep track of the health status and to indicate any unlikely symptoms of the virus.

These technologies are playing a pivotal role in providing us insights on the current state of our health. Monitoring coronavirus patients remotely with clinical-grade sensors and collecting data on numerous physiological signals can be helpful for clinical testing.

Researchers turn to wearables and sensors in the race to track Covid-19

As current viral tests and vaccines are slow to emerge, robust disease detection and monitoring of individual and population health could be aided through the wearable sensors. The data from wearable systems may alert people of the potential of SARS-CoV-2 infection before symptoms become severe.

Researchers are turning to wearable technologies such as Fitbits and Apple Watches in a new bid to tackle coronavirus, using them to gather large volumes of real-time patient data to track the course of the disease.

Wearable tech systems work by monitoring several physical and physiological parameters - such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, movement, sleep, and more, which can indicate the presence of a virus, even before the symptoms are felt. 

By constantly monitoring fluctuations in these metrics, they provide a valuable stream of health data that would otherwise be more difficult and laborious for researchers to capture. The information collected from personal sensors can improve remote patient monitoring. 

"Integration of biomedical sensors on employees' arms through smartwatches, which can be connected through dedicated analytic servers, can help to test if employees are sick or not," explains IEEE member Ramneek Kalra.

Ford employees are using smartwatches that alert them of any close contact with other workers. The devices utilize Bluetooth short-wave and low-power technology to detect proximity and clustering of workers. They receive vibration and a color-coded warning on the watch, whenever they come closer than six feet to another person.  

Another efficient way to track health is through the use of passive sensors, especially human body temperature detecting sensors. Health centers and other public places have devices with thermal sensors installed for mandatory self-service, touch-free temperature checks at the entrance.

For example, airports are using infrared technology to calculate the temperatures of passengers passing through the lobby. Corporations are also installing sensors in the break room and restroom entryways. By combining the data obtained from these sensors, it is possible to infer the health status of employees. 

Chatbots : providing instant triage

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently launched a chatbot to combat COVID-19 in collaboration with Facebook. The new chatbot is now a part of Facebook’s popular instant messaging platform Messenger. With this, W.H.O has expanded its Health Alert platform by offering people instant and accurate information about the coronavirus outbreak through a chatbot.

A chatbot is a software program that simulates human conversation through voice commands or text chats or both. Chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools that can be embedded and used through any major messaging applications. 

Based on conversational artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology they provide users with information through text or voice-based interaction. Due to its ease-of-use and effectiveness, small and large organizations alike are embracing chatbots.

These AI-based chatbots could be effective for triaging and guiding the general public for self-isolation. For example, by plugging in or virtually discussing symptoms with a chatbot, users may be able to seek better guidance on whether or not they should consult a doctor. They can engage people and provide information about their disease or ask them to take certain precautions.

These COVID-19 Risk Assessment Chatbots use AI-driven solutions for medical diagnosis. The information these chatbots provide can be customized to the needs and symptoms of the individual. Response to specific questions can be provided interactively, more rapidly than traditional online search methods. 

The information is also adaptable to local guidelines and regulations, based on the location of the user. It will not be 100 percent accurate, as not every person will be classically symptomatic when they use a bot and might simply be an atypical case. However, the goal at a public health level is to minimize the spread of the virus. 

There is a range of technologies that are being adopted quite rapidly to help fight against COVID-19. Just think of the potential of apps to report on daily health, track and trace infected people and identify their contacts, to provide information about symptoms and treatment options. These may raise privacy concerns, but that may be a small price to pay for public health and wellness.

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