Development of the device to detect SPO2 in the field

In case of disaster such as a severe earthquake, many sufferers will be generated at the disaster area. In this situation, we have a problem that sometimes rescuers are also injured by disaster. In order to avoid such damage, various kinds of rescue robots are being developed and used. Most of them are developed to remove debris and obstacles. Using these robots, we can find sufferers and rescue them in safety. However, rescue robots cannot asses a sufferer's condition at the disaster area. If some vital signs can be measured by a rescue robot, the efficiency of rescue operation will be greatly improved. Our objective of this study is the development of measurement methods that can assess sufferer's vital signs at the disaster area by a rescue robot. In this paper, we will talk about a developed method that can measure pulse and SPO₂. Most of SPO₂ measurement methods are using red and infrared ray that penetrate the skin. However, reflected rays are used to measure these vital signs in our method. Intensity of red and infrared ray is controlled automatically in order to measure vital signs stably. Using this method, these vital signs can be measured only by touching the sufferer's skin with a developed sensor. We think that this method will be powerful and useful to rescue sufferers at disaster area.