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【2021 Solutions】 Targeting Metaverse Business Opportunities, Huijia Health Develops Smart Fiber Optic Pad with Great Application Potential

Can you imagine: A premature baby weighing only 680 grams is fighting for her life. The baby is fast asleep in the incubator connected to all kinds of tubes because she is less than a month old. What an unbearable sight! It pained Shu-Chen Yang, chairman of Huijia Health Life Technology, to see this scene, and it inspired her to develop a smart fiber optic pad for cribs, which can monitor physiological data around the clock. The little baby successfully survived and assisted in tests as she grew up, making the dream come true. Now she has grown into a little girl in the fifth grade of an elementary school.

After 10 years, this technology has advanced to 2mm thin pads, and has been applied to elderly care, COVID-19 technology-based epidemic prevention, and innovative high-end medical devices. The goal is to promote this new innovative technology to help more people who need it.

This is the touching story of why Shu-Chen Yang started the company. This magical pad is the nFOPT®non-invasive fiber optic physiological monitoring pad developed by Huijia Health. If is combined  with a smart care system, it can continuously track potential changes in the patient, such as respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, sleep analysis, and activity. The sensor pad can be placed under the pillow or bed sheets. If the patient has any abnormal conditions, a warning will be automatically issued within 30 seconds.

Huijia Health develops a non-invasive physiological monitoring system with love as its starting point

This product has also become the pride of Taiwan. Shu-Chen Yang was invited to serve as Taiwan's representative to participate in the 2021 APEC BEST Award and won the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" award. "Huijia Health's products are listed among major innovations in the 2021 Global COVID-19 Innovation Survey report, along with Moderna, Johnson & Johnson in the United States, and AZ in the United Kingdom, gaining global recognition for innovation in epidemic prevention" said Shu-Chen Yang with her joy visible on her face. The innovative solution nFOPT® was also included in the United Nations-related Global COVID-19 Innovation Survey Report, and was listed as one of the 120 major innovations among over 1,300 items, showing that nFOPT® is highly recognized as a solution that has the opportunity to be quickly provided for the world to jointly combat COVID-19.

In fact, Huijia Health has long been a winner of international awards. The smart care pad has won the R&D 100 Awards, APICTA Awards, ECI Grand Awards, National Innovation Award, National Healthcare Quality Award, and Excellent Epidemic Prevention Institution. Over the past decade, more than 300 obstetrics and gynecology clinics, postnatal care center, infant care centers, nursing homes, dementia homes, centers for intellectual disability, and hospitals have adopted nFOPT® smart care pads and system to assist with care.

▲ The non-invasive fiber optic physiological monitoring pad, coupled with a smart care system, can easily achieve long-term and continuous physiological monitoring.

"Safety and no need to wear devices are my principles for developing health monitoring products." Shu-Chen Yang's original intention was to solve two pain points in baby care. One is that no device can be worn, and the other is that there cannot be any electromagnetic waves. Due to its high acceptance in the infant and toddler market, it has gradually expanded to areas where it can be used by the elderly, such as long-term care centers and nursing institutions.

Shu-Chen Yang further explained that babies and the elderly are fragile individuals, and safety from electromagnetic waves is the top priority. The elderly are very resistant to any wearable devices. The smart care pad does not need to be worn and is placed on the pillow or under the sheets to easily achieve long-term, continuous physiological monitoring. The smart fiber optic pad is developed using the principle of total reflection of optical fiber. The pad captures the changes in and out of the optical fiber and distinguishes environmental values and non-environmental values. Therefore, it has low noise and the data obtained is simple and clean. By introducing AI tools such as machine learning and big data analysis to analyze and determine parameters connected to the body, it is expected to provide positive care benefits, including early warning of heart disease and patient care after recovering from COVID-19.

▲Non-invasive fiber optic physiological monitoring pad can monitor sleep

Demand for epidemic prevention technology products increases as smart fiber optic pads play its role

Shu-Chen Yang said that the smart fiber optic pad AI smart care system reduced the probability of contact between front-line health workers and at-risk patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. It not only saves medical resources, but also greatly reduces the pressure of care on caregivers. Shu-Chen Yang said that the company is still targeting the two major home care markets, including infant care and long-term care, in the current stage. At this stage, smart fiber optic pads are still sold as general consumer electronics products and are classified as auxiliary care products. However, in order to benefit more patients, Shu-Chen Yang pointed out that they have applied for medical device certification for the product, and expect to obtain the certificate as soon as next year, at which time it will have even greater potential for development.

Huijia Health has changed the traditional care service process and monitors physiological data in a contactless way. Although it started early, it does not mean that there are no competitors trying to catch up. However, Shu-Chen Yang confidently pointed out, "Prototypes and samples will take two years, and it will take another five years for product stability to reach a certain level. Only after the product is stable can it be used for higher-end applications." In addition, data collection is not easy. AI applications will generate greater value after accumulating data, making it difficult for latecomers to catch up. Therefore, the technical threshold established by Huijia Health is not low, but she opened its doors and adopted an open attitude, welcoming businesses from all fields to work together and create a win-win situation.

At this stage, the company has entered the car driving behavior monitoring market, which can detect the driver's physical, mental and fatigue status. It only takes three months to produce samples by cooperating with Huijia Health, and will allow quick commercialization. In the future, the electric vehicle market can also introduce sensors to achieve safety and accuracy.
 

▲Smart fiber optic pads can also enter the automotive market to monitor the physical, mental and fatigue status of drivers.

Recently, the metaverse has gained momentum, and Shu-Chen Yang believes it is a big business opportunity. She said that the metaverse requires a large number of sensors for long-distance and short-distance interactions. As long as the application scenarios are outlined, the applications of smart fiber pads will be unlimited. For example, patients walking in the hospital using railings for support has not had good rehab effects. On the one hand, it is impossible to know whether they have improved. On the other hand, the rehab effects will be poor if there is no one to accompany and encourage them. With the use of sensors, patients will be able to record their rehab situation at any time, and also virtually interact with family far away, as if family members were accompanying them during rehab, doubling the effect.

Looking towards the future, Huijia Health will extend its application to more fields, and will adopt a licensing approach to assist strategic partners in completing commercialization. In the current stage, the products have been promoted to overseas markets such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Spain.

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【解決方案】AI電眼取代人眼 慧演智能運用AI幫製造業做品管
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