Qualcomm is offering a $10 million prize for anyone who can create a device akin to the medical-tricorder from Star Trek. If you’re unfamiliar with the show or the fictional gadget, it’s basically a hand-held scanner than can identify just what’s wrong with a patient in seconds. How does it work? Well that’s what Qualcomm wants to find out.
Of course any technological leap this significant would be worth far in excess of $10 million to the creator, so it’ll be interesting if an actual solid offer sitting on the table will encourage any would-be inventors to pick up the case.
It definitely seems far-fetched, but it’s worth a mention that some of the gizmos from the original Star Trek series are already in existence today, to a degree. Laptops, super-thin flat-screen displays, mobile phones and now tablets are all examples of modern-day technology that resemble props from Star Trek. Tablets in particular not only serve the same purpose as many of the slates seen in the popular Sci Fi series, but have actually surpassed Star Trek’s representations in almost every regard. The US military is even having moderate success with directed energy weapons as an alternative to anti-ballistic missiles.
The significance of a real-world medical tricorder is obvious. No more poking and prodding around patients in order to come up with answers. Misdiagnoses could become a thing of the past and patients with rare illnesses would receive proper treatment with increased alacrity. It seems like Qualcomm is looking for the holy grail of mobile medical treatment.
Whether or not anyone actually gets anywhere with this competition is beside the point. It’s unlikely that we currently have the technological know-how to make something like a medical tricorder, if it’s even possible at all. But as with most endeavours the effort should reveal its own rewards. It’s always nice to give science a little push every once in a while and publicity stunts like this can help grab attention from the mainstream media, not to mention the public as a whole.
Whatever your take on the whole thing, whether you think it silly or exciting, we still think it’s pretty cool and we’re happy that the focus is on medical treatment, rather than trying to MacGyver together a phaser pistol.
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