Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Kinetisense: developing a Kinect app the right way, by Vangos Pterneas

Today, I would like to share one of my favourite projects my company has worked on. This project has been the result of a 5-month effort and is expected to launch publicly very soon.  Kinetisense is one of these start-ups that you have a feeling they’ll succeed even before their product launch.  When I was initially approached by its founders, David and Ryan, I was impressed by how focused their product idea was.  They came to me with a real problem to solve, an idea for the solution and valuable feedback for the whole development process.  Throughout our extensive meetings, we set the goals and expectations of a revolutionary product that would serve a very specific purpose: change the game in the rehabilitation field.


Artificial intelligence, meet the consumers

If you’ve read any of my previous publications, you should already know that I'm a deeply technical person and I love programming for the sake of programming. However, when it comes to business, the most essential element of a new product is the market need it covers. Unless the product solves real problems and pains, it won’t succeed. 

Kinetisense is different than any other competitor. It is inspired by founders with significant experience and impact in the medical field and it is tailored to fit their needs as much as possible. In this case, the creator is a customer as well (“Build an app that you’d buy”).

The problem

Since a product needs to solve a pain, how exactly does Kinetisense succeed on this? First of all, it targets a niche market: rehabilitation professionals, practitioners, chiropractors. It is not just another fancy app for the average consumer. Instead, it is a solid platform for medical professionals who need a digital assistant to do their job better.

For years, practitioners have been using the same techniques to measure the range of motion of their patients: physical tools, such as the goniometer and the inclinometer, help them identify the angles formed by a patient’s joints. Technology has several times tried to substitute the physical tools in the form of wearable sensors or mobile apps. Guess what? Even the latest technological applications do not provide much of the desired efficiency in the whole process. Wearable sensors seem quite cumbersome, plus they require a lot of time to setup. Mobile apps simply replace the physical goniometer with a digital one, so the end results are approximately the same.

You know you innovate when you change the way something is done, not the medium.



The innovation
Kinetisense makes a huge step forward by utilizing the power of the most accurate consumer 3D sensor: Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows version 2. Kinect for Windows is an affordable device that can identify human body joints.  Kinetisense algorithms can get the positions of the joints and calculate the exact angle of any given joints at any given time. And the best part? The identification of the range of motion is performed in less than half a second! No need to use plain- old tools or expensive wearable equipment. The patient simply stands or sits in front of the sensor and all the necessary calculations are performed with remarkable accuracy and speed.

Here is a demo of an angle calculation in action:


That can save a huge amount of time for the practitioner, allowing her to examine more patients each day. As you can easily see, the practitioner knows the exact angle of the desired joints and can easily compare the current results with the previous ones. Inclinometer and goniometer cannot beat that. Kinect does a great job on detecting the joints, and our algorithms manage to calculate significant data at a very short time. Simply contrast that with the required time and effort when you use a traditional tool.

Kinetisense is also crafted with all those tiny details in mind. It is not only a state-of-the-art digital assistant, but also a handy utility for keeping a contact list of patients and organizing their assessments. As you can see, the Kinect-related functionality is the most essential part of the app, but many other features are combined to offer a great experience.


Usability

Kinetisense is a medical utility designed with efficiency in mind. Instead of being a hand-driven, natural user interface (like most of the competitive products), Kinetisense is strongly relying on touch for the most part. The whole app has been developed for touch-friendly tablet devices and helps the doctor accomplish various tasks quickly and easily. Similar applications that require the patient to handle the interface remotely using her hands, simply fail to accomplish the efficiency requirement.  Instead, Kinetisense is a touch/mouse-driven app that uses Kinect only when it is absolutely necessary.


Whenever any special feedback is requested by the patient, voice recognition can partly replace touch and provide even better efficiency to the whole system. Kinetisense uses voice recognition to specify the level of pain a patient feels when performing a particular treatment.  

So far, Kinetisense has impressed rehabilitation professionals and academics from all over the world and a strong support base has been developed on LinkedIn and social media. Gaining potential customers before you launch is the dream of every new company.

Of course, this is only the beginning. Thoughts on expanding the platform on different medical fields have already aroused and the journey continues. Stay tuned (or subscribe) for the exact release date!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Patient Retention Increases with Kinetisense

As practitioners we know that there are many factors that affect treatment outcomes with our patients. No matter what form of treatment that you do, whether it be soft tissue, functional movement, joint/tissue manipulation, surgery etc. patient progress reporting is essential. Objective analysis of motion is an essential component of the overall treatment process. Based on objective analysis of the patient the practitioner can modify the treatment, have a more accurate prognosis, and show the patient improvement data in discomfort and movement dysfunction as the treatment progresses.


Kinetisense will allow the practitioner to track improvements in patient ROM, but also organize analysis data so that the practitioner can easily show the patient functional improvement over time. Unfortunately many patients do not realize that function is never all or nothing. If the patient continues to have some pain throughout the treatment plan, even if the pain scale has dropped from 10/10 to 4/10, they often feel like there is minimal improvement. From a clinical point of view this would be seen as a significant improvement. Also if joint motion is improved by 30 degrees, the patient may not feel a huge difference, however clinically this is a significant change.



Kinetisense will allow the practitioner to report these improvements to the patient, validating the current treatment plan for the patient. When the patient is informed and they can see progression in care then this increases overall patient retention. The patient will be more likely to continue through with the treatment plan and protocol. As practitioners we know that patients that stick to the prescribed treatment plan often have the best chances of symptom relief and functional restoration. We believe that Kinetisense will make a dramatic impact on your practice.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Making Kinetisense easy to use - Simplicity is not Simple

Designing Kinetisense to be easy to use  has been Dr Ryan Comeau and my goal from the start.  This is easier said then done as Simplicity is not Simple to accomplish.  We spent lots of time thinking about what would make a system easy to use.  During this process the doctors productivity was foremost.  We looked at the available technologies and concluded that the older Microsoft Kinect 1 sensor or wearable sensor technology would not provide the framework to build Kinetisense.



This past fall we decided to use the Windows 8.1 and Kinect 2 platform as the foundation for Kinetisense.  The new sensor is accurate to a mm instead of a cm and new features such as new joint and voice recognition provide mechanisms allow us to implement our vision.  Becoming a Microsoft Bizsoft partner and joining the Kinect 2 early partner program have allowed us to move the development of Kinetisense along nicely over the last 7 months.


It is one thing to have a vision and another to implement it.  Thankfully we were able to build a working relationship with Vangos Pterneas at Lightbuzz Software.  Vangos and his team have won numerous software design awards and they specialize in the Kinect sensor software development area.  Vangos and his team have done excellent work and have made Kinetisense very easy to use and more importantly it accurately measures the patient joint range of motion.  In our next blog Vangos will share his thoughts about Kinetisense.

When developing  a new idea especially when trying to make it simple, it is important to think about the problem, define the problem, document the potential solution, review lots and most importantly find the right team of people to build your product.  Following these steps will help your product live and most importantly easy to use.  Thanks for your time!  David


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Kinetisense and Insurance

Today more than ever insurance companies are constantly requiring objective analysis and data on patients that file a claim, whether that claim is personal injury, MVA (motor vehicle accidents), or WCB (worker's compensation).  Not all practitioners treat "insurance claims", however the majority of us have these cases as part of our practice.Because Kinetisense will provide the most accurate, objective movement analysis on the market, we envision that it will become a vital aspect of the insurance based patient-practitioner interaction. This product will not only allow the practitioner to accurately track pain free joint range of motion (ROM) and overall joint ROM, but it will also provide historical data on the patient.


For instance, If a patient is analysed for cervical ROM these values will be stored in the Kinetisense software. Later, if that patient were to sustain a motor vehicle accident and complain of neck pain and/or discomfort, the new analysis could be compared to the previous analysis. Thus, the practitioner and insurance companies alike will be able to acquire and compare before and after ROM readings. This valuable data not only informs the insurance companies and practitioners on the impact of the "accident" or "injury", but also has a large impact on the treatment plan of the practitioner for this patient. The Kinetisense system is standardized between practitioners so readings from one practitioner using our software can be sent (confidentially) to another who is currently treating the patient. Kinetisense practitioners will benefit from the accuracy and objectivity that this system will bring to your practice.

Friday, May 2, 2014

KinetiSense is Different

For years years rehabilitation practitioners have been in demand for an accurate range of motion analysis product. We as rehab professionals are seeking to find an accurate, efficient, objective means to obtain range of motion in our patients. The ability to obtain accurate data on movement allows for the practitioner to track improvements and alter his/her treatment plan based on progression of the patient. On the market today you will see some range of motion capture systems that incorporate wearable sensors that are strapped to the patient. So what separates KinetiSense from these other products? KinetiSense is the most accurate, efficient, and objective system on the market in that it does not require the use of a wearable sensor. Studies have shown that as soon as there is touch or pressure to the epidermis, there is an altering in muscle firing activity.



Obviously having the range of motion capture system affecting the firing activity of the muscles attached to the joint it is reading is a problem, and alters the accuracy of the reading. Also, the systems that incorporate "wearable sensors" require that the sensor be placed in the exact position for each assessment, this can be very difficult to reproduce at each treatment visit. Kintisense range of motion capture system uses accurate infrared camera technology using the Kinect 2. This highly accurate system is able to take objective range of motion of the patient without having to place any sensors on the patient. An analysis can be done in seconds and there is the motion being assessed is not affected by the use of a wearable sensor. For these reasons and many more, KinetiSense has become the leader in accurate, efficient, objective range of motion analysis.

The following study from the University of Texas Neurosciences department explains the impact of touch and pressure on joints and muscles. http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s2/chapter02.html  With Kinetisense the effect of touch will be mitigated.


Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A Call for Objective Analysis

Like many other students in the healthcare rehabilitation field I would sit in my orthopaedic class and watch my instructor fumble around with an inclinometer, trying to show us how to use this tool to check joint range of motion (ROM). He would then tell us that currently this was the best way to measure joint ROM in a clinical setting. MY classmate then asked our professor how accurate the inclinometer was, our professor quickly backtracked and went on to explain how using the inclinometer is very inaccurate.


It was at this point that it occurred to me that one of the most essential aspects of patient assessment and treatment (objective ROM analysis) was still somewhat in the stone age. How can we as practitioners consider ourselves to truly be objective and evidence based if our analysis is based on an innacurate tool. I have since made it my mission to find an alternative. Today in rehabilitation, there is an emphasis on objectivity and evidence based care. In order to achieve this practitioners require accurate, efficient and objective tools to acquire patient data. Acquiring this movement data is essential and beneficial for the practitioner and the patient.


The KinetiSense system will revolutionize the way that ROM data is collected pre and post treatment. The infrared camera tracking system used by our system gives a very accurate measurement of joint ROM for all movements of each of the joints. The software will provide the practitioner with the ability to quickly view the progression or regression of dysfunctional movements and/or movements that cause pain, clicking etc. Easy to read reports will be created by the software to show the patient and practitioner treatment progression. There are many different products on the market that can help improve one's practice, but we believe that the patented KinetiSense system is a product that will change your practice forever. Dr. Ryan Comeau

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

From Tennis to Kinetisense

I have spent my career looking at how to solve problems with technology.  I love researching how new technology can solve old problems. When the topic of measuring human movement came up with Dr Ryan, after a tennis match last summer, my wheels started turning.  He said he had been thinking about different methods of doing this for many years, some were quite humorous.  This initial talk has lead to many more and a great partnership.


The past 10 months have been lots of fun as we have worked hard to build a product to help doctors, chiropractors and physiotherapists.  Over the next few months we would love to share our story with you as we prepare to the launch Kinetisense.  Join our blog or mailing list and we will make sure you receive weekly updates and news about Kinetisense.