Thanks to a slew of apps and gadgets that let you track your activity, improve your focus, and even check for melanoma, your smartphone is becoming the newest way to stay healthy. And keeping tabs on your vitals is about to get even easier thanks to the Scanadu Scout. Dreamed up by a team of scientists working at a startup out of NASA Research Park (and designed by Yves Behar of Jawbone fame), the Scout is a pocket-sized device that can give you a quick snapshot of your health just by holding it to your forehead for 10 seconds.
In that 10 seconds the Scout can give you read on heart rate, temperature, oxymetry, respiratory rate, blood pressure, ECG, and emotional stress. That’s a lot of data in less than a minute. So even if you’re not a quantified self-er, there are still several reasons to check out the Scout.
First, if you have kids, this is easier to use (and faster) than many thermometers and gives you so much more information to share with your child’s doctor. Once Scout is out of the testing phase doctors with the right equipment will be able to receive data from your Scout before you even show up to the office, making visits that much easier and hopefully less frequent.
If you have a chronic condition that can be triggered by foods or environmental factors like migraines, you can get a baseline of what’s normal for your body, and see how you react to changes. Plus, learning warning signs before you get sick.
The first round of supporters will anonymously help with FDA trials to get approval for the Scout as a commercial device. But all shared information is strictly opt-in, so no worry about your data getting out of your hands if you don’t want it to.
The Scout is currently available for pre-order ($199 for the Scout and app) via an Indiegogo campaign, and should be available to supporters in early 2014.
What do you think of the Scout? Would you replace your normal thermometer and track all your vitals with it?
