Artificial Nose – a Breakthrough for Rapid COVID-19 Testing
In addition to the vaccines being rolled out, another critical step to a return to normal is rapid or even instant COVID-19 testing. Such real-time testing would be a key resource for the opening of large venues and events.
In recent reports, some dogs have been trained to literally sniff out individuals infected with COVID-19. Now, a tech company is using the power of artificial intelligence to do the same thing with an “artificial nose” handheld device.
In a recent test, BrainChip Inc. and NaNose Medical were able to successfully detect COVID-19 in exhaled breath in much the same way a breathalyzer detects alcohol. Their COVID-19 testing results are reportedly fast and highly accurate.
BrainChip is a leading provider of ultra-low power high performance artificial intelligence technology. In a press release, the company wrote, “Using the NaNose Medical artificial nose, and Akida’s artificial brain, is a potential breakthrough in accurate, fast, inexpensive, widespread (COVID-19) testing with the potential to control outbreaks and reduce this disease’s death toll.”
This NaNose Medical technology is based on the artificial nose developed at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, by Prof. Hossam Haick, and has the same sensitivity to minute quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as a dog’s nose.
While it’s use as an instant or rapid COVID-19 test are new, the device has been used in tests to identify diseases including Parkinson’s, cancers, kidney failure, and multiple sclerosis for several years.
For the recent trials testing COVID-19, NaNose Medical collected samples from 130 patients and used that data to train its Akida™ neuromorphic processor. The system has now learned to recognize patterns of VOC biomarkers associated with an COVID-19 infection within seconds with a high level of accuracy.
According to a study in China, this type of breath sensor data is more accurate than current COVID-19 tests using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Additionally, sensor testing like this reduces the risk to healthcare workers because the tests does not rely on saliva or mucus samples.
“Artificial intelligence in medicine and healthcare is an emerging field and one in which we are eager to contribute with our edge AI processing solution at the Edge, for the benefit of science and humanity,” said Louis DiNardo, BrainChip CEO.
Both Louis DiNardo, Brainchip CEO and Orit Marom Albeck, NaNose Medical CEO said: “Using the NaNose Medical artificial nose, and Akida’s artificial brain, is a potential breakthrough in accurate, fast, inexpensive, widespread testing with the potential to control outbreaks and reduce this disease’s death toll.”
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