$10 Million Prize Offered To STAR TREK 'Tricorder' Invention
The Qualcomm Tricoder X Prize is designed to challenge researches to come up with the technology capable of working like the medical 'tricorder' in the sci-fi show.
A prize of $10 million dollars (£6.5m) is being offered to anyone who can create a Star Trek-like medical 'tricorder' to diagnose patients. Launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, The Qualcomm Tricoder X Prize is designed to challenge researches to come up with the technology capable of detailing "key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases" from the sick and must be light enough for a person to carry, so a maximum weight of 5lb (2.2kg) has been set. In Star Trek, the medical tricorder is technology that belongs to the 23rd Century. It was a device used by Dr. McCoy, Spock and his medical/science team as far back as the first episodes, giving the crew the ability to diagnose a patient by scanning his physical body. Similar such devices already exist but not in such a small form. Prof. Jeremy Nicholson, the head of department of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London said to the BBC that the devices that exist now detect chemical signs of illness to aid patient diagnosis and claims creating one that is Trek-like tricorder size is a huge challenge and doesn't think anyone will be able to achieve it.
"The most likely sort of technology would be something that detects metabolites," Prof Nicholson said. "What we use in our laboratory is big - the size of a Mini. The challenge is sticking it all into one device.