The Zaragoza startup that detects if your baby does not see well

A prototype from a small Spanish company that diagnoses vision problems in non-collaborative patients catches the attention of Huawei's CEO. The development of it could be very helpful for ophthalmologists

Diego Gutiérrez, the Spanish genius that NASA is pursuing

Every day 11.000 children are born in the world with vision problems. However, their diagnosis is made, hopefully, from the age of three, which means that the consequences of their pathologies can worsen over time. To alleviate the defenselessness of the weakest, a modest startup Zaragoza, Dive Medical, has designed a prototype that takes advantage of the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to make an early diagnosis. And his invention not only arouses interest in the medical community, but has also caught the attention of Richard Yu himself, CEO of the technology giant Huawei, who wants to support its development.

Various animated graphics are projected on the screen of this small computer while an eye tracker follows the gaze of the child undergoing the test. Their reaction to changes in color or movement act as detectors of potential vision problems.

The results of the Dive Medical project, a company made up of several engineers and an ophthalmologist, are promising because the information it provides is useful for programming rehabilitation or adapting educational models according to the needs of such small children. One of the most stimulating cases of this artificial intelligence test, which has been tested on more than a thousand Aragonese children, is that of a 12-year-old boy whose cerebral palsy prevents his verbal communication. The test has made it possible to diagnose that he is color blind, like his parents.

The so-called non-cooperative patients, unable to express their ocular deficiencies or who are very easily distracted, require a lot of skill and experience from opticians. Its diagnosis depends on the clinical eye. "This test does not replace the doctor," clarifies Victoria Pueyo, ophthalmologist at the Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza. "But it does serve as a warning to parents of the need to take their child for a check-up."

It all started with a wish from virtual reality expert Diego Gutiérrez: to fight blindness with a computational eye. "I met with different doctors, who recommended that I contact Dr. Pueyo," he explains. "She told me about the difficulty she faced in these diagnoses. That's how we began to collaborate."

This engineer directs a research group at the University of Zaragoza that combines mathematics and computer science called Graphics and Imaging Lab, which has produced projects that have attracted the attention of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Disney factory and even NASA itself. , an agency that years ago showed interest in its camera for lunar mapping.

The objective of the Chinese company is that this diagnosis can be done by any user from their new smartphone. In fact, its P30 mobile phone incorporates an AI engine that would facilitate the execution of these vision tests in babies or people with severe cognitive problems in the future. Of course, first the Aragonese prototype must overcome the embryonic phase with new technical and medical tests.