In Images: Real-Life 'Star Trek' Health-Monitoring Tech

Zensor device

The X Prize Foundation is hosting a $10 million competition to develop a mobile health-monitoring device that can diagnose and interpret a set of 15 medical conditions and monitor five vital signs, just like the medical tricorder device in the fictional "Star Trek" universe. Here are devices from some of the finalists.

At left: Team Zensor, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, developed a device that can measure echocardiogram (ECG), respiration rate, temperature, motion, and blood and urine samples.

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Danvantri device

Team Danvantri, headquartered in Chennai, India, has a device that can measure blood pressure, temperature and blood oxygen, and is working on a newer version that can also measure ECG, breathing, blood chemistry and glucose.

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MESI device

Team MESI Simplifying diagnostics, of Ljubljiana, Slovenia, has a system that consists of a medical wristband and modules that monitor vital signs from sight, sound, urine and blood.

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Final Frontier device

Team Final Frontier Medical Devices, of Paoli, Pennsylvania, developed a device that uses artificial intelligence that draws on experience with real emergency room patients.

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DMI device

Team DMI, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has a device which they tested on a series of parabolic "zero-G" flights - the conditions a real star traveler might experience!

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CloudDx device

Team CloudDx of Toronto, Canada, has developed a necklace and cuff that can measure pulse, ECG, blood oxygenation and temperature, as well as other medical parameters.

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Tanya was a staff writer for Live Science from 2013 to 2015, covering a wide array of topics, ranging from neuroscience to robotics to strange/cute animals. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has previously written for Science News, Wired, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the radio show Big Picture Science and other places. Tanya has lived on a tropical island, witnessed volcanic eruptions and flown in zero gravity (without losing her lunch!). To find out what her latest project is, you can visit her website.