Here is the third talented team that has been selected for the famous bootcamp, which will take place from March 24th to 26th. They will come to defend their project SAM 3D. This project consists of a posture measurement instrument that performs postural analysis in 3D, without the use of X-ray equipment. The purpose is to develop AI to better understand complex chronic biomechanical pain, to propose better prevention and better resolve, with specific advice. Their thrilling interview is below.
Introduce yourselves (Who are you? Where do you come from? How many members does your team have?)
Dr Gérard DI MASCIO CEO and founder of SAM Research
Inventor of the whole-body scanner SAM 3D, this tool works with no X-ray.
Established in Rouen Normandy in 1995
General medicine, Sports medicine, Medical osteopathy, Medical expertise
My team is made up of 4 active members and 3 support members.
The active members are:
Hervé BAILLEUL COO
Engineer, measurement and vision specialist, SAM3D technical development, industrialization of the system and optimization of the selected solutions, business development and monitoring of market developments
Dr. Fengchun DONG
Doctor of Physics, responsible for IT development, system signals specialty, images and robotics
Charles O’QUIN
Financial expert, international development experience, IPO LBO, restructuring
CEO / CFO of growing SMEs in the high tech and premium sectors, quality products
Supporting members are:
Jean PIERRE a former French businessman
Thomas FERAUD French a Business Developer
Christelle LECOMTE professor of 3D imagery at the University of Rouen
What are the main motivations that led you to apply for the Arkathon Program?
Our main motivation is joining a collection of leading healthcare organizations and technological institutes to develop and test the correlations between bone and joint pain, and the biomechanical stress measurements carried out with SAM 3D.
The main value will be future health structured data.
The offering solution of a co-development hand-in-hand, with an economic support of regional public funds, ready to go, is a fantastic proposal.
What is your project about?
The development of biomechanical AI will provide health solutions to minimize the burden of pain to the patients suffering from complex pain. It will also delay MSD aging with an interactive program, including immediate 3D visual postural feedback for the patients.
Our project aim is to increase the level the AI of SAM 3D. This will offer better feedback to medical end–users, and more therapeutic guidance.
The first step, directly develop by SAM Research, uses AI in machine learning, which represents a part of the potential due to the level of AI and due to the recruitment of patients.
The second step will be an AI evolution both in machine learning and in deep learning, for a better correlation analysis of whole-body anomalies , including new patient cohorts. For the deep learning solution, we will develop partnerships with many organizations, public or private foundations.
What needs does it respond to? How is it innovative?
Conventional imaging allows certain parts of the body to be analyzed, usually in an unnaturally imposed posture. The use of X-rays prohibits multiple comparisons resulting from different therapeutic strategies regarding musculoskeletal disorders.
So far, there is no systematic correspondence between pain and imaging.
The new, non-irradiating SAM 3D tool shows the posture as a whole and the relative position between the anatomical parts of the body with no X-ray, in natural position, for the first time. The results are instantaneous. Thanks to AI, the biomechanical constraints are automatically modeled and quantified with results displayed as a 3-color code in addition to the values displayed in angle, length, and surface. This AI step does not account for age, sex, pathology known, job, or hobbies. The data base is capable, but not correlated.
The objective of the SAM 3D tool is to establish a correlation between posture and pain, and to offer practitioners assistance in the diagnosis and monitoring of therapeutic proposals like orthopedic surgery, orthodontic treatments, physiotherapy, podiatry, new devices for rehabilitation, etc.
SAM 3D is the missing link between traditional imagery and the functional analysis of the body’s adaptations to various constraints.
For example, over the past year, I led a study at Pellegin Hospital with Prof. Mathieu de Seze. The objective was to determine the reproducibility of the sagittal posture in camptocormia. The results show that the variation of the sagittal imbalance between the position of C7 and the Posterior Superior Iliac Spine is about 10 mm in normal standing, and in voluntary righting, with 8 operators. For those people with a large sagittal imbalance between 250-300mm, we have seen the postural adaptation: in this case the PSIS is around 120-150mm behind the heels, C7 is about 120-150mm ahead the heels, which allows these patients to find an acceptable balance.
With this preliminary study, Pr David Orlikowski at the Garche’s hospital asked us to participate in the development of a digital, functional twin, built in a European program.
What do you think makes your approach to the bootcamp different?
We will propose a new approach of chronic biomechanical pain, with functional analysis.
The size of the population concerned is very high, in Europe 44% of workers are suffering with back pain, the frequency is increasing. Both young and aging people are concerned.
We will develop partnerships with health care organizations, then with HES, to allow for many practitioners to acquire 3D postural knowledge to assure the treatment and the follow up.
We expect international development. China is interested by the SAM 3D solution.
The market is mature. Our customers are both insurance companies and health practitioners. Insurance companies will propose their own industrial or professional customers new offers. Our customers are insurance providers and practitioners:
- the insurance and collective buy a service, to check in the workplace, the biomechanical particularities of suffering workers. The aim is to identify early the people with potential or evolutive MSD, then to offer them individual recommendations. We also propose the follow up of different recommendations selected with health practitioners, who are our experts.
- the practitioners in public or private establishments, who will have to manage the treatment, buy a SAM 3D tool to verify the efficiency of the different treatments.
A final word?
The Arkathon is a fantastic concept. We hope it will be a catalyst for a long journey together.
For more information on this project, you can consult their website: sam3d.fr
Discover the interview of the fourth team participating to the bootcamp: Accelerating physical rehabilitation and restoring mobility thanks to Articulate Labs
