How this AI-enabled device detects early signs of rheumatoid conditions

We would have compared the invention to something from Dr House or Greyrsquos Anatomy but then this writer was not sure if Jayveer Kochhar a GenZ representative would catch the reference On the morning we visit him at his home in Juhu the teenager is ready with his laptop to give us a display of his invention Breathfree Bamboo SpineA closeup of the internal circuitry of the sensorsThe story as ever so often begins at home ldquoMy grandmother and uncles have been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis It runs in the familyrdquo the Juhubased Kochhar tells us A genetic condition ankylosing spondylitis causes an inflammation of joints and tendons ldquoOften the bones and tendons fuse with each other even in the vertebrae Since there is no cure the only solution is an early diagnosisrdquo he elaborates This usually involves a blood test to detect the presence of a specific gene variant HLAB27 ldquoThe test is expensive and not available at all labs across India Plus I have noticed that people can get afraid of invasive examinations They tend to ignore signs till it becomes very obviousrdquo he points outUsing mathematics in scienceA Grade 11 student of the Dhirubhai Ambani International school Kochhar is a fan of mathematics and has been learning coding since he was four years old Having learnt about the disease he decided to use programming and mathematics to tackle the problem ldquoEven when the disease has not fully progressed it can be determined by slight changes in breathing patterns When you have the disease your chest does not expand as much You struggle to open up the lungs or sit straight since the vertebrae or the bones are inflamed or fusedrdquo Kochhar remarks Armed with this knowledge and after discussing his ideas with the family orthopaedic doctor Dr Amit Joshi the teenager set to work on 3D models in September 2023Kochhar right tests the sensors on the writerrsquos hand PicsAnurag AhireDr Joshi began the conversation with the teenager late in 2022 ldquoThe disease begins with the fusion of the joints Often the issue starts out as a typical back pain It is only when the disease goes out of control that people often are referred to us By then we have lost precious time If we have a machine where we can actually see a holistic data of the expansion of our chest we can preempt the possibilities In a normal person the expansion of the chest is around 25 cms I suggested he add further inputs from the scapular area as well The more we tested with patients we discovered that the equipment does have an accuracy of over 90 per centrdquo Dr Joshi sharedTesting it outAs we examine the equipment Kochhar points to five button sensors These can be attached to removable stickers and placed on the body ldquoThey are cheap noninvasive and reusable Each of these sensors has an Internal Measurement Unit IMU that measures acceleration and angular velocity They are placed along five points of the body ie pectoral muscles scapula blades sternum and the spine You might not notice but there is displacement of the body at a certain angle and a specific velocity when you breatherdquo he explains Worn directly on the skin the sensors detect these movements and relay them to a microcontroller that transmits it further to a laptop using wifi signalsJayveer KochharHe places one of the sensors on our arm and asks us to move it ldquoThe data is relayed live and measured for a span of five or 10 minutesrdquo he points to the numbers on the screen Altogether the five sensors relay 60 data points every second ldquoThese are analysed in two parts The first is the preprocessing that calculates displacement through an algorithm The second part involves the use of set values to predict possibilitiesrdquo Kochhar points outIt is in the second part that Artificial Intelligence AI steps in ldquoI used a recurrent neural network known as a longshort term memory module The module makes observations based on its previous learnings from the gathered fiveminute data setsrdquo he explains Thus when it spots a reduced displacement of an individualrsquos chest movement or scapula during breathing it will highlight the anomaly This data can be plotted on a graph or as a numerical sheet It can help in detecting multiple rheumatological disorders says the Grade 11 studentWhere does a 15yearold learn these terms we wonder ldquoI have always been curious Plus Dr Joshi kept offering me inputs through the testing periodrdquo he says adding that he has already shown his invention at the finals of the International Science and Engineering Fair ISEF in the Los Angeles USA earlier this year For now Kochharrsquos inventions have been funded by the family with the scholarships and prizes adding to the purse But the teen hopes to create this as a tool for those in need ldquoIn villages the condition remains undiagnosed and ignored due to the expensive tests This is a simple tool that can be used by any GP General Practitioner with the set data saved on a virtual platform Thatrsquos the eventual targetrdquo he saysDespite the detailed medical knowledge Kochhar wants to pursue computer science as a career path a field that will be altered by AI and machine learning we remind him ldquoI know People keep telling me that AI will take over human roles But it is dependent on data Of course it evolves rapidly For instance ChatGPT has achieved 90 per cent accuracy already But to cross that final 10 per cent requires inputs to be more complex and detailed This is where it lacks human imaginationrdquo the young man concludes Till then the future seems to be in good handsWhat is itBreathfree Bamboo Spine is a set of wearable sensors that calculate displacement of different sets of muscles and their mobility during breathing to determine early signs of possible rheumatoid conditionsHow it worksFive sensors placed on the optimum positions on an individualrsquos body relay data that is analysed by a machine learning programme to predict anomaliesWho it affectsbenefitsThe analyses can help detect problems in posture erratic breathing patterns and even early detection of rheumatoid issues like ankylosing spondylitis and other forms of arthritis