IIT Delhi Develops AI Hardware To Detect Diseases And Help Diagnostic Treatments In Rural, Resource-Constrained Areas

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based low-power electronic hardware system that can help in detecting diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, an intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in a few milliseconds.

The research focuses on building a neuromorphic system which can be used for healthcare access in resource-constrained areas with limited access to human specialists.

IIT Delhi professor at Department of Electrical Engineering, Manan Suri said that while several software AI models exist for healthcare and diagnostic related applications, need of the hour is to efficiently map these models on portable dedicated low-power, low-cost hardware to enable edge-AI systems accessible to all in low resource environment.

How will this technology benefit society?

Suri, who is leading the team of researchers, said microscopy is particularly well adapted to low-resource, high disease burden areas, the technology is simple and versatile even for diagnostic tasks.

While newer technologies are available for diagnosis, the cost of specialised equipment may prove it impractical in places with heavy spread of diseases, he said.

“In contrast to alternatives such as rapid diagnostic tests, however, microscopy-based diagnosis does depend on the availability of skilled technicians, of which there is a critical shortage. As a result, diagnoses are often made on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms alone, which is error-prone and leads to higher mortality, drug resistance, and the economic burden of buying unnecessary drugs,” the professor said.

The professor also added that there is a need for alternatives which can help in providing the access to quality diagnosis that is currently routinely unavailable.

The long-term impact and goal of this work is to enable potential future use of the platform in rural and resource-constrained areas and improve the access to diagnostic health-care.

Awards given on the innovation

The student researchers working on this project (Khushal Sethi, Narayani Bhatia, Vivek, and Shridu Verma) were awarded two Summer Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) by IIT Delhi, in 2017 and 2018.

The work was showcased at Rashtrapati Bhawan and also received the prestigious Gandhian Young Technology Innovation Award (GYTI) in 2018. – India Today