So you have a great idea for a new wearable Health Tech device that is going to save lives around the world; what next? Your idea won’t help anyone if you don’t bring it to market, and the longer you wait, the more investor cash you burn before the revenues start to come in. Speed to market is one of the most critical factors in any technology product. It’s a bigger problem for digital health products because there are so many more requirements you need to consider. You don’t just have to pick a processor and other components; you also have to account for data security and regulatory certification and a host of other details.
RoweBots is a company that helps new products come to market faster by providing an off-the-shelf operating system for wearables and other medical devices. MedicalOS is a real-time operating system based on the company’s Unison system, customized for the functions and options required by medical applications. The system is designed to run on tiny, efficient processors (as opposed to the more general processors used in smartphones or smartwatches), and covers the essentials such as data acquisition and storage, wireless data transfer. One of the most important features of MedicalOS, however, is that it is built from the ground up with security in mind. It can assign a unit ID to a specific person, and encrypt all data based on that unique combination. File transfers can be made to cloud services, with security maintained from end to end in the process. The system even includes its own firewall provisions. The module design means that engineers can pick and choose the features that they need for a specific device, keeping the system’s footprint as small and efficient as possible.
As the wearable Health Tech market matures, companies are going to need to rely more and more on third-party hardware and software to get their products out quickly. Rather than reinvent the wheel over and over (and having to accumulate the knowledge and skill required to do so), integrating proven solutions from other sources will also help improve the security and interoperability that have been overlooked too often in the rush to get something working and out the door.
