Manual molecular scanner SCiO analyzes the composition of food and drugs

Summer is just around the corner, and for many - this is the time when you need to follow a diet in order to look better in bathing suits by the onset of this hot season. Usually, counting calories consumed, you need to look at the tables and databases of food products, which, in fact, may not correspond to the contents in the plates.



The new device, launched on the Kickstarter site, is designed to simplify this process by using spectrometry to analyze and provide information about any consumed food - in real time. Called SCiO, this molecular scanner, developed by Consumer Physics from Tel Aviv, uses spectroscopy technology (common in laboratories and industrial environments), placing it in a user device no larger than a flash drive.
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The process is very simple: you need to synchronize SCiO with your phone via Bluetooth, bring it to the product, say, to an apple, at about 2-3cm distance and press a button. In just a few seconds, SCiO analyzes the actual chemical composition of the apple, sends data to the cloud service, accurately identifies the product and provides information about its nutritional value. The corresponding application can also give information about how ripe the apple is.

The principle of operation of SCiO is based on the method of near-infrared spectroscopy. The physical basis of this method of analyzing substances is that each type of molecule vibrates in a unique way, and these vibrations interact with light to create their own unique optical signature.

SCiO contains a light source that irradiates the sample, and then an optical sensor-spectrometer collects the light reflected from the sample. The spectrometer breaks the light into separate spectra, which include all the information necessary to detect the result of this interaction between the reflected light and the molecules in the sample.

Spectrometers used in infrared spectroscopy are usually very large and expensive: they can be the size of a laptop and cost tens of thousands of dollars, while the unique SCiO spectrometer is tiny in size and inexpensive. The SCiO developers re-invented a spectrometer combining low-cost optics and modern signal processing algorithms.



In addition, SCiO can also scan medications. During a demonstration of the device, one of the founders of Consumer Physics, Dror Sharon, scanned two brands of ibuprofen, and SCiO was able to determine which drug was fake. As for the other medical capabilities of the SCiO scanner, Sharon explained that initially the device will not be sold as a medical device, but it has the ability to scan the skin and physiological fluids and, with enough demand from consumers, it may well turn into a medical device.

For potential applications, all horizons are open; SCiO device has the ability to identify large quantities of food and drugs, but to expand the database the company will need user assistance. Consumer Physics is also going to release an application development kit so that programmers can create their own applications using SCiO. One of these is an application that helps grow a houseplant: scan the plant with the included application and it will let you know if your plant needs water.

At the moment, the SCiO handheld molecular scanner has already collected $ 722,759 with a stated goal of $ 200,000.

Project page on Kickstarter.

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