Empatica which means empathetic in English is a company which joined hands with AI researchers to develop a smartwatch that detects seizures. This smartwatch is the first smartwatch to get FDA approved in neurology.
Seizures happening to a person with epilepsy can lead to death. This happens when a person’s Amygdala in the brain is stimulated and even though that may not lead to any distress physically, the person may stop breathing. This sudden death is termed as SUDEP. Occurrence of SUDEP that is Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy happens every 7-9 minutes all around the word.
To avoid this, you again stimulate the brain by shaking or speaking or changing the position of that person. There is a timeline between the seizures and when the person stops breathing. We can use this timeline to get there and help the person suffering by creating a stimulus.
That’s when the smartwatch comes into picture. With great amount of research, it was uncovered that seizures are related to skin conductance i.e. basically sweaty palms. A person shows signs of a high surge of skin conductance before a seizure or possible phase of no breathing.
As you can see in the graph the conductance is at very high levels when the person is experiencing a seizure. Now, we can train AI to detect these patterns and identify when a person might need help.
This research paired up with AI and Machine Learning made it possible to develop a technology which can help save lives. The watch can be linked with your phone and as soon as a dear one or a relative of yours experiences such situations you get an alert stating that the person might need your help along with the GPS location. As soon as you get this alert you try and stimulate the person’s brain and can make them start breathing again.
This smartwatch has now advanced to various other features as well like showing time, keeping track of your steps, etc.
This is truly an incredible innovation and a breakthrough in AI and ML playing a role in neurological aspects.
