This smart mirror will give you a medical check-up in 60 seconds

Alan Martin July 29, 2015

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the sickest of them all? Your current mirror wouldn’t be able to answer that, unless you’re rocking a black eye or bleeding profusely, but a “smart mirror” that’s in development should be able to have a good go.

The product of a consortium of researchers from across Europe and with EU funding, the Wize Mirror contains four distinct sensors to compile a quick health profile of its subject. How quick? You’ll get a prognosis within one minute, the researchers reckon.

Facial-recognition sensors detect telltale signs of stress, while a gas sensor sniffs the user’s breath for compounds that indicate too much smoking or drinking. At the same time, 3D scanners assess your face shape to determine any weight fluctuation, while multispectral cameras estimate your heart rate and haemoglobin level.

After your face has gone through its paces, the software produces an overall health score and offers advice on how to improve your health. waiting_room

So far, so Wii Fit. However, the researchers have a greater goal in mind. They believe that the mirror could help patients prevent deadly cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. “Prevention is the most viable approach to reduce the socio-economic burden of chronic and widespread diseases, such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases,” the researchers write.

“The mirror could help patients prevent deadly cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.”

Whether it achieves this noble goal will depend largely on how accurate it is – and hopefully we’ll know soon. Clinical trials of the Wize Mirror will be taking place across France and Italy next year, examining whether it can offer the accuracy provided by traditional medical assessments.

With the NHS under immense strain and facing an ageing population, anything that can lighten the medical load of its staff would be extremely welcome. Hopefully the mirror shines through this scrutiny and finds its way into our homes to cast judgement on our faces and lifestyles on a daily basis.

Watch the full pitch for the Wize Mirror in the video below.