Smartphone Vein Imaging

People who have diabetes or other conditions may have to endure frequent blood tests or intravenous injections. Patients whose veins are difficult to locate may suffer additional pain. Thanks to two young students, medical practitioners may soon have a low-cost way to “see” veins with their smartphones, anywhere, anytime.

High school students Geeve George and Chaitanya Shyamaraj found it harrowing to watch their diabetic grandparents and other relatives suffer through frequent painful blood tests and intravenous injections. The experience inspired them to come up with a solution to help patients go through injections and blood tests with greater ease. The two young innovators from Udupi (Karnataka), India, got the opportunity to turn their idea into reality as participants in an Intel® Innovation Generation program.

“We both shared a passion for building things—things that we didn’t necessarily learn from our syllabus at school,” said Geeve. Using programming skills, the two boys set their minds on building an imaging system that could help people locate veins quickly and easily.

It took some experimentation, but in the end, the boys developed a solution that they call Smartphone Aided Multispectral Imaging System (SAMIS). This smartphone app enables users to easily capture data and images of veins under the skin by just clicking a photo of a person’s arm.  

One of our main goals was to build a system in which we could do diagnoses at a very low cost.

With SAMIS, we are able to do it at zero cost because it’s an Android* app.” As a result, the boys hope doctors and nurses—even in extremely remote locations—will be able to administer blood tests and intravenous injections with greater ease and less pain.