Care.ai deployed the first and only AI-powered autonomous monitoring platform to help hospitals more effectively monitor and manage environments.
Weeks into the COVID-19 crisis, Tampa General Hospital introduced an AI-powered screening system developed by care.ai, Inc. as a triage system to curb the spread of disease in its public areas.
The hospital deployed devices stationed at its entrances that combine sensors and cameras to assess a visitor’s health. Each device feeds data from facial attributes such as sweating and discoloration as well temperature from a thermal scan into a computer vision platform. AI then analyzes and reports this data to healthcare providers to help them deliver the highest quality care with efficiency while keeping themselves and their patients safe from infection.
“Tampa General was one of the first to deploy our system,” says care.ai founder Chakri Toleti. “Without the frontline staff even coming close to visitor, our devices take their temperature and look at their skin condition without even touching them.”
Orlando-based care.ai, founded in 2019, deployed the first and only AI-powered autonomous monitoring platform to help hospitals more effectively monitor and manage environments. Sensors, designed to continuously learn as they detect and evaluate a full range of behaviors, are powered by AI to transform traditional rooms into smart rooms.
According to Toleti, everything changed for care.ai over the course of 45 days.
“In the last few weeks, we signed some of the biggest contracts and we’re closing new ones every day,” Toleti says. “It’s sad situation out there but we’re very focused on helping hospitals to meet the demand they are facing while keeping them safe.”
John Couris, president and chief executive of Tampa General Hospital, told The Wall Street Journal in a recent article that the objective of the Care.ai system is part of an outbreak-response plan to “keep people that don’t really need to be in the hospital, out of the hospital.” He explained that visitors are also screened based on questions about international travel and contact with people infected with COVID-19.
“You don’t want a sick staff member coming in and affecting others,” Toleti says. “We can set you up with monitoring devices to make sure nobody who has a fever or is sick walks into a facility.”
Toleti says things are changing every week.
“Hospitals are coming to us to not only to manage or flatten the curve, but also to restore the confidence that people can come back to the hospital and still be safe,” he says. “Eventually this technology will be the new normal.” The company’s AI Autonomous Monitoring platform is now being used at 25-30 percent of all hospitals in country, the largest AI monitoring platform company in the world.
Prior to COVID-19, the company’s sensors were deployed to increase patient safety and reduce medical errors including fall prevention by monitoring when a patient gets up from bed, pressure ulcer prevention by monitoring how long a patient remains in a single position in bed and hand sanitization compliance by monitoring use of sanitization stations throughout the hospital. care.ai’s autonomous monitoring solutions are powered by NVIDIA’s Jetson platform thanks to a recently announced collaboration with the world leader in AI computing engines.
Toleti and the team at Care.ai continue to work with different tiers of hospitals to improve the care delivery process. The company recently partnered with Texas Hospital Association (THA) to create statewide adoption of artificial intelligence for autonomous monitoring.
Looking toward the post-COVID-19 business environment, Toleti sees potential demand for his system throughout the hospitality and retail sectors as companies place emphasis on employee and customer safety. The company has already begun discussions with major employers and city and county governments.
“We can set up monitoring devices to make sure nobody who has a fever or is sick walks into a facility,” Toleti says. “It’s not just taking the temperature. It’s about adhering to protocols in place and monitoring results in order to improve the quality of the experience and the service. Companies must ensure both staff and customers are extremely safe and that will become an integral part of how business is conducted in the future.”
Key to Care.ai’s ability to meet the demand are the resources the company draws from the Orlando region. A University of Central Florida alumni, Toleti attributes many of the advantages the company leverages to its proximity to UCF and the talent it provides.
“Our CTO and VP of Engineering are from UCF and we recently hired a Ph.D. in computer science from UCF,” he says.
“Orlando is great place to recruit from and gives us the advantage that we need in the space – being an AI company, that’s extremely important.”
care.ai founder Chakri Toleti
Toleti also credits Orlando’s industry clusters for giving his company a boost.
“There’s enough muscle from big companies in terms of the talent pool, but it’s still an affordable place to do business. To scale a high-tech business, Orlando is the best place in the world – it’s low cost with all the resources you need.”
To contact Care.ai or learn more about its potential to combat the spread of COVID-19, visit its website at Care.ai.
