(Yicai) Dec. 30 -- SenseTime Group, a loss-making Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has revealed new details regarding its artificial intelligence amyotrophic lateral sclerosis care system, which aims to provide full-time help to patients and caregivers.

SenseTime's AI ALS care project includes 24-hour non-contact respiratory rate, heart rate, and body temperature monitoring, an alarm if abnormal physical signs are detected, and an automatic system to dial fixed phone numbers, Yicai learned at an event revealing the system's progress. More than 100 patients in more than 20 cities in 17 Chinese provinces have benefited from the equipment.

The second generation of the AI ALS nursing system was launched this year. It includes a reflective point displacement call function, a customized physical parameter alarm, and an AI assistant to better meet patients' needs.

"The call function of the AI nursing system has made more than 80,000 calls, potentially saving a life every time," Doctor Sun Qigong, project leader of SenseTime's ALS care system, said at the event. "With the large-scale development of AI model tech, AI has turned from a simple productivity tool to a force that can change people's lives."

Identifying patients' abnormalities and promptly making distress calls is the system's most important function, as it can detect if someone's state is abnormal and signal for help. Based on computer vision tech, the system can sensitively capture patients' expressions and give an alert in three seconds.

Patients can pre-define a series of actions, such as opening their mouths and blinking in a specific way to send out signals without making a sound or moving.

ALS is a rare, progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disease that results in the loss of brain and spinal cord motor neurons. ALS patients steadily lose the ability to move, speak, eat, and eventually breathe. The average life expectancy for people with ALS is three to five years from the time of symptom onset.

Editor: Martin Kadiev