AI-powered mind-reader finally in the flesh

Daniel Piamonte

Doctors and mental health professionals are definitely not paid enough for the expectations of being mind-readers who can easily understand the underlying conditions of their patients. 

With people rarely wearing their emotions on their sleeve, medical specialists cannot exactly give an accurate diagnosis. Fortunately, experts have crafted an invaluable tool for the healthcare sector that easily monitors a patient’s feelings and well-being—an emotion detector that can be attached to the skin.

Researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Pennsylvania State University, and Xiamen University developed a “stretchable, rechargeable, multimodal hybrid” sticker that allows a transparent patient-doctor consultation.

As a technological leap for healthcare and biomedicine, the sticker integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect emotions and project real-time feedback based on physiological signals such as skin temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, facial movements, and more.

“By transmitting the real-time measured data to mobile devices and the cloud, the system can allow healthcare professionals to evaluate psychological health and provide emotional support through telemedicine when needed,” the study abstract emphasized.

With doctors relying on the words of their patients, lying and creating a facade can hinder a precise diagnosis of conditions. Due to personal reasons, they fool medical experts by disguising or shrugging off their depression or anxiety. 

However, if these psychological disorders are left untreated, the consequences will destroy not just their mental state but also their familial and social relations. That is why the device can help in pinpointing feelings that patients might not be comfortable sharing. 

Since the device can also differentiate between real emotions and performed emotions, people will never be able to fool their doctors and snub the concerns of their family or peers.

Moreover, the device is a game-changer for telemedicine, allowing long-distance consultation to provide a diagnosis in a shorter time. Even without a face-to-face meetup, mental health professionals and doctors can now care for their patients and monitor what they are feeling.

According to the study, this type of stretchable electronic device is not new, but its edge is its ability to generate an output from sensing multiple input signals. 

“Despite the rapid development of stretchable electronic devices for various applications in biomedicine and healthcare, the coupling between multiple input signals remains an obstacle in multimodal sensing before use in practical environments,” the study abstract reads. 

This electronic emotional tracker has a compacted layered design and directly tracks emotions by monitoring changes in the body. 

Likewise, even with the complex layout of the device, its manufacturing does not heavily contribute to a larger carbon footprint.

It also caters to various preferences of users, as its design values comfort, durability, and functionality. There is no need for confusing manuals or instructions, as people can easily attach the sticker on themselves.

Hence, with this AI-powered emotion tracker finally in the flesh, doctors and mental health specialists will now be compensated for the hassles of being a mind-reader—no more guessing on the patients’ exact feelings and conditions.