On the occasion of the World Innovation Day we had already discussed how, during the most difficult phases of the spread of Covid-19, the world of technology had immediately decided to match healthcare needs with immediate high-tech solutions.
Different realities are continuing to work in this direction, making their skills available, and we also believe it is important to contribute. This is why we have started a new project: its name is Telemachus.
The Telemachus project
Financed by ESA – European Space Agency, ASI – Italian Space Agency and Ministry for Innovation in response to the Covid-19 emergency, Telemachus, the acronym of TELEmedicine Monitoring And Collaborative HUb-and-spoke System, meets healthcare needs with space technologies and more.
The project, which involves companies from the healthcare, space, academic and high-tech sectors, aims to develop a device capable of remotely monitoring the health status of Covid-19 patients and detecting the virus’ diffusion, considering the next wave of infections expected for the winter.
The system consists of a smart bracelet and a monitoring App that guarantee a series of useful functions to limit the spread of the virus.
The product uses different systems for its functionalities:
- It facilitates the tracking of Covid-19 affected people and it monitors the health conditions of healthcare staff, limiting the chain of infections;
- the approved Hub-and-spoke system allows healthcare staff to get in touch with the patients’ GPs, thus facilitating their interaction;
- thanks to GNSS space technology, it is possible to anonymously detect the patients’ location, also recording the environmental data to study any correlations between the geographical location and the spread of the virus.
Network of competences: the actors involved in the project
BionIT Lab®s is part of the consortium that presented the project, dedicating an internal team thanks also to the support of GrecoLab – Ing. Matteo Greco.
The project leader is g-nous, which deals with the application of space solutions, together with Aulab, coding factory dedicated to the world of programming; Nextome, specialized in indoor tracking, Sensor Id, a leading company in sensor design and Sanilab Plus, which deals with medical consultancy and telemedicine. The companies will be coordinated by the Polytechnic of Bari.
In particular, our team will deal with the mechanical design of the bracelet, with great attention to ergonomics, design and user interface, in order to obtain a comfortable and easy-to-use device, which can provide doctors with all the useful data to effectively monitor the COVID-19 patients.
The project, started two months ago, is carried out together with the Policlinico Riuniti of Foggia and the ASL of Bari, the health facilities in which Telemachus will be applied in the experimental phase, and the results will be analyzed by the Complex Operational Unit of Clinical Epidemiology of Spallanzani in Rome.
This project represents tangible proof of the benefits that technology can bring to the healthcare system. Shaping innovative support models such as telemedicine is an effective tool for facing and containing the health emergency, as well as introducing new technologies that may in the future be applied to other diseases.
Now Telemachus is in its full development phase, and over the next few months we will share with you the first results of the experiment, which we are sure will contribute significantly to facing this pandemic.
Press review
Learn more in the press review about Telemachus project in the links below:
