UC Berkeley student enters AI stroke-detection startup in competition
A University of California, Berkeley student has created an artificial intelligence startup to help people detect strokes and other medical emergencies and will be taking part in an innovation competition on Wednesday, the university said.
Undergrad Ashmita Kumar founded Code Blue, a startup that uses a person's own basic devices such as a computer, cellphone or even their smart TV to detect early signs of strokes.
Kumar said she was motivated to try using AI after her grandfather suffered a stroke when she was a child, and then her father displayed similar symptoms four years ago. As it turned out, her father wasn't having a stroke but the event left her with the idea that technology just may be the answer to responding to things such as strokes, in which every second counts.
Code Blue uses cameras and microphones on cell phones, computers and other smart devices with the help of AI, she said. Users are alerted to possible signs of a stroke before they may even be aware of them. It can also call for help.
The technology analyses the user's speech and facial images every 30 seconds, scanning for changes such as slurred words or facial expressions.
In the interest of privacy, Kumar said the images and sounds are analyzed and then deleted, not stored.
"The idea is that you set it up, and then you forget about it," said Kumar in a statement released by UC Berkeley.
Kumar first introduced her idea at an innovation summit in 2023, and was "overwhelmed by the interest from attendees," said UC Berkeley.
Currently, Kumar is working with doctors at University of California, San Francisco on a pilot test program with five patients. She and her team are also seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which would allow her invention to be more widely used, UC Berkeley said.
On Wednesday, Kumar takes her invention to the Atlantic Coast Conference InVenture Prize competition, where people pitch their ideas to a live audience and panel of judges at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. The winner gets $30,000 and the satisfaction that they are making a difference.
"Ashmita's work is a great example of Berkeley students using technology and innovation for the greater good," said Darren Cooke, UC Berkeley's interim chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer in a statement released by the university.
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