KAIST

< KAIST Opens a Mobile Healthcare Technology Showroom on Campus >

Portable and wearable computers have made the way we manage our health easier and potentially more effective. Researchers from six departments and one graduate school at KAIST collaborated and conducted a one-year project called the “Mobile Healthcare Innovation” to develop a mobile healthcare system. Their research results are on exhibit on campus at the “Dr. M Showroom” which was open on March 13, 2015.

Located on the second floor of the College of Information and Electrical Engineering building, the showroom displays the entirety of mobile healthcare system developed during 2014, from the collection of biological data through smart sensors to analyzing big data to provide customized healthcare models for patients.

Standing in for a mobile doctor, Dr. M is a networked medical service system provided through the Internet of Things (IoC), wearable electronics, smart home, and smart car. Under this care, people can monitor their health on a daily basis at any-time and place, helping them to lower the risk of serious health problems. Patients who have chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular illness can inform doctors of their health status in real time. Moreover, people living in remote regions can receive quality medical services without traveling long distances.

At the showroom, about 40 convergence technologies are displayed, including biological sensors, low-power communication devices, IoC technology, big data, disease analysis, and prediction technology, presenting how these technologies are connected and worked systematically. For example, all the data earned from biological sensors are analyzed to produce relevant user information. Once abnormalities are discovered, the results would be sent immediately to medical staff for treatment.

As part of Dr. M, KAIST has been implementing the establishment of a “Mobile Healthcare Campus,” distributing small, wearable wristbands to 100 students. The wristbands read students’ biological signals and send them to researchers for monitoring. In addition, KAIST plans to collaborate with local hospitals, nursing care centers, communications, and mobile healthcare service providers for the commercialization of Dr. M system.

Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of the Electrical Engineering Department, who has led the Mobile Healthcare Innovation project said, “One of the great advantages Dr. M can offer is the capability to customize healthcare service based on individuals and ages. For individuals in their twenties, for example, healthcare services such as skincare and diet programs will be more relevant whereas blood pressure monitoring for patients in their fifties and early diagnosis for the recurrence of diseases for those in their seventies. If we define human history in terms of major technology advancements, the first big one was computation, communication for the second, and I think ubiquitous healthcare will be the third one. We will continue to develop Dr. M in collaboration with medical and research organizations.”               

A total of 32 professors from the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Industrial Design, Web Science, Knowledge Service Engineering, and the Information Security Graduate School participated in the Mobile Healthcare Innovation project.