Studio Mango has collaborated with Zign Innovations to develop Higo; a telemedicine diagnostics device which can monitor a variety of symptoms at home and enables digital contact with a certified clinician. During clinical trials it was discovered that this same device is also capable of monitoring and detection of COVID-19.
In a real-life scenario when a child wakes up feeling sick in the middle of the night, a parent can perform several body exams guided by this device. The data of these body exams are sent to the available clinicians at the Higo office where they will advise parents on how to provide care and what steps to take next; these can be recommendations for simple treatments, a prescription to collect from the pharmacy or an e-referral to consult a particular specialist.
All of this can be done from home. Higo brings nine different examinations together in one solution aimed for mass market adaptation. Each of these exams had to be clinically validated as clinicians at the Higo office would be basing their diagnosis on the data the devices.
The nine procedures it can perform are:
- Throat exam
- Skin exam
- Ear canal and tympanic membrane exam
- Heart auscultation
- Heart rate calculation
- Auscultation of lungs
- Auscultation of abdomen
- Cough and breath registration
- Temperature measurement.
The main device automatically identifies which examination module is placed and then gently guides the user through the examination procedure step by step while validating the correctness, before forwarding the collected data in one package to the clinician.
Studio Mango worked alongside the teams of Higo, Zign Innovations and doctors and parents throughout all design stages – validating proof of concept prototypes and moving to a fully integrated working prototype within a time frame of nine months.
Future additions for different types of specific illnesses are in the pipeline, including a COVID-19 version as the current device can already detect symptoms through the data of the digital stethoscope and IR thermometer. AI and Machine Learning Algorithms will be embedded in order to provide an on the spot prognosis and customised medical profiling. The COVID-19 and AI updated versions will take quite some additional development and clinical validating efforts before any mass introductions can be considered.
