Qualcomm offer $10 million for whoever makes the first working Tricorder, Star Trek fans beam up

Qualcomm have an interesting new competition, named the Tricorder X PRIZE. It is jointly organised with the X PRIZE Foundation, who is famous for its Ansari X PRIZE award of $10 million for its first private suborbital space flight. Qualcomm is offering up $10 million to those who could take the concept of a highly-portable health-monitoring device, the Star Trek Tricorder, and make it real.

Peter Diamandis, chair and chief executive of the X PRIZE Foundation says:

There is a dire need to improve access to healthcare globally and provide consumers with an opportunity to be active participants in their own health. The Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE will incent the creation of technologies that can empower the consumer with the ability to decide when, where and how to seek health information and care.

Want to get in on the $10 million prize? All you have to do is be the team that most accurately diagnoses a set of 15 diseases across a sample of 30 consumers in three days. Bonus points are award for providing the information in a useful manner alongside logging of health metrics including blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature. Qualcomm have big plans for the future device, where they would make it available for untrained personnel to self-diagnose ailments.

If the device detects an illness, the user can be provided with information on what to do next, whether that's to seek medical attention, drinks fluids, or simply go to bed.

Qualcomm chair and chief executive, Paul Jabobs, said at CES last week:

Health care today certainly falls far short of the vision portrayed in Star Trek. By sponsoring the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE competition, the Qualcomm Foundation will stimulate the imaginations of entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists and doctors to create wireless health services and technologies that improve lives, increase consumer access to healthcare and drive efficiencies in the healthcare system. This competition will accelerate the development of tools that can empower consumers to take charge of their own bodies and manage their own care.

Want to know more? Visit the official website.