When I was a kid, I was, like many of you in this room, very much fascinated by Star Wars, and what fascinated me the most is this notion of the Force, this energy that connects all people and all objects and allows you to feel people that you can't even see. And I remember many nights, I would be sitting at home, just, like, concentrating and focusing, trying to feel the Force, and I didn't feel anything, don't worry.
Cando era nena coma moitos de vós nesta sala, estaba moi fascinada por <i>Star Wars</i>. O que máis me fascinaba era a noción da Forza. Esa enerxía que conecta todas as persoas e todas as cousas e permíteche sentir xente que nin sequera podes ver. Recordo moitas noites, sentada na casa, concentrándome para sentir a Forza e non sentía nada de nada, non temades.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
And later in life, I became a scientist. I joined the MIT faculty and started working on wireless signals. These are things like Wi-Fi or cellular systems, and I did a lot of work in that domain. But then, again, this Force thing kept nagging me, and at some point, I was just like, "Wait a minute, these wireless signals -- they are like the Force."
Máis tarde, convertinme nunha científica. Uninme ao MIT e comecei a traballar nos sinais sen fíos. Cousas coma as redes sen fíos ou os sistemas móbiles. Traballei arreo nese eido. Mais o tema da Forza seguía a amolarme e, nalgún momento, pensei: "Un momento, estes sinais sen fíos, son coma a Forza."
So if you think about it, wireless signals, they travel through space, they go through obstacles and walls and occlusions, and some of them, they reflect off our bodies, because our bodies are full of water, and some of these minute reflections, they come back. And if, just if, I had a device that can just sense these minute reflections, then I would be able to feel people that I cannot see. So I started working with my students on building such a device, and I want to show you some of our early results.
Se o pensades os sinais sen fíos viaxan a través do espazo, atravesan obstáculos e muros e atrancos. Algúns deles reflíctense no noso corpo que está cheo de auga e algunhas destas diminutas reflexións retornan. E só con ter un aparello que detectase esas ínfimas reflexións, sería capaz de sentir persoas que non podo ver. Comecei a traballar cos meus estudantes en construír ese aparello e vouvos amosar algúns dos nosos primeiros resultados.
So here, you see my student standing, and here is our device. And we are going to put the device in the other office, behind the wall, and we are going to monitor him as he moves. This red dot is tracking him using wireless signals. And as you can see, the red dot is tracking his movements very accurately, purely based on how his body interacts with the surrounding wireless signals. Pretty accurate, isn't it? He has no wearables, nothing.
Aquí vedes o estudante de pé e velaquí o dispositivo. Imos poñer o dispositivo na outra oficina, detrás do muro, e imos controlalo mentres se move. Este punto vermello está a seguilo usando sinais sen fíos. Como podedes ver, o punto vermello segue os seus movementos con moita precisión, baseándose soamente en como o corpo interactúa cos sinais sen fíos do arredor. Bastante preciso, non é? Non leva ningún conector, nada.
(Applause)
(Aplauso)
Now you might be wondering, how is it possible that we can sense people and track them, without any wearables, through walls, and the easiest analogy to think about is radar. I'm sure many of you have seen this picture. You transmit a wireless signal to the sky, it reflects off some airplane, comes back to you, and you start detecting these airplanes.
Agora debedes estar pensando como é posíbel que poidamos sentir a xente e rastrexala sen tecnoloxía poñíbel, a través dos muros. A analoxía máis simple que me vén ao maxín é o radar. Seguro que moitos de vós vistes esta foto. Transmítese un sinal sen fíos ao ceo, reflíctese nun avión, volve e comezades a detectar eses avións.
But if it were just radar, then we would have this 50 years ago. So it's not just radar. There are two key differences. So the first difference, of course -- you can't, like radar, just blast wireless power at somebody. You're going to fry them like if they were in a microwave. Don't do that. So it means that you have to be able to deal with very weak signals, and that means that your device has to be very sensitive. The second difference is that, unlike the sky, where it's empty -- if you are lucky, there is one airplane that you can catch there. Like, look at the room and look how many objects and people there are. So in indoor environments, the signal not only reflects off the person, if reflects off the person, off the floor, the ceiling, off other people around, and you get very complex reflections where the same signal reflects off me and then off you, and then off the ceiling, then off the floor. And you have to make sense of that mess.
Pero se fose tan só un radar, existiría dende hai 50 anos. Non é simplemente un radar. Hai dúas diferenzas significativas. A primeira, por suposto, é que non se pode, como un radar, disparar sen máis unha carga eléctrica. Fritiríamolo coma se estivese nun microondas. Non fagades iso. Isto significa que tedes que ser quen de apañarvos con sinais moi febles e tamén, que o voso aparello debe ser moi sensíbel. A segunda diferenza é que o ceo está baleiro --se tedes sorte, haberá un avión que podes cachar aí arriba. Pero mirade esta sala e mirade cantos obxectos e persoas hai aquí. En espazos interiores, o sinal non só se reflicte na persoa, reflíctese na persoa e tamén no chan, no teito, noutra xente darredor. Obtéñense unhas reflexións supercomplexas, en que o mesmo sinal se reflicte en ti e en min, e volve outra vez ao teito e o chan. E tes que darlle un senso a toda esa enleada.
But we were lucky. We were coming at the right time. So two things helped us. The first thing is radiotechnologies have evolved a lot, and over the last decade, radio technology became much more powerful, so we were able to build very sensitive radios that can sense weak and minute RF signals.
Pero tivemos sorte. Chegamos no momento xusto. Axudáronnos dúas cousas. A primeira é que as radiotecnoloxías evolucionaron moito e na última década a radiotecnoloxía volveuse máis potente polo que puidemos construír radios máis sensíbeis que poden sentir sinais de radiofrecuencia febles e ínfimos.
The second thing: machine learning. So you keep hearing about machine learning and there was a revolution of machine learning recently, in deep learning, and that allowed us to build machine-learning models that can understand wireless signals and interpret them so they would know what happened in the environment. So if you think of it, the radio is like the ear of our device and the machine learning is like the brain, and together, they have a very powerful device.
A segunda foi a aprendizaxe automática. Ouvimos falar de seguido da aprendizaxe automática e houbo unha revolución nese campo recentemente, na aprendizaxe profunda, e iso permitiunos construír modelos de máquinas intelixentes que poden comprender os sinais wifi e interpretalos de xeito que saiban o que sucede ao redor. Se o pensades, a radio é coma o ouvido do noso aparello e a aprendizaxe é coma o cerebro. Xuntos forman un potente dispositivo.
So what else can we sense about people using wireless signals? Sleep. Sleep, actually, is something very dear to my heart, because my sleep is a disaster.
Que máis podemos sentir das persoas mediante sinais sen fíos? O sono. O sono, en realidade, é algo moi prezado para min porque o meu é unha desfeita.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
So one thing is when you start working on some physiological signal and you discover that yours sucks.
Cando comezas a traballar nun sinal fisiolóxico e descobres que o teu dá noxo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
So you can see why we can capture sleep, because the person walks and the device sees him as he walks to bed, when he stops tossing around in bed, when he steps out of bed, and that measure of sleep is what people call actigraphy. It's based on motion. But it turned out that we can actually get sleep at a much more important level. We can understand the change in the brain waves that occur during sleep.
Podedes ver por que podemos capturar o sono porque a persoa camiña e ségueo mentres vai para a cama, cando para de dar voltas na cama, cando se ergue. Esa medición do sono é o que chamamos actigrafía. Está baseada no movemento. Pero resultou que podemos chegar a ver o sono nun nivel moito máis importante. Podemos comprender os cambios das ondas cerebrais que ocorren durante o sono.
So, many of you probably know that as we go to sleep, our brainwaves change and we enter different stages: awake, light sleep, deep sleep and REM, or rapid eye movement. These stages are of course related to sleep disorders, but they are also related to various diseases. So for example, disturbances in REM are associated with depression. Disturbances in deep sleep are associated with Alzheimer's. So if you want to get sleep staging, today, you will send the person to the hospital, they put all of these electrodes on their head, and they ask them to sleep like that.
Moitos de vós sabedes sen dúbida, que cando imos durmir as ondas cerebrais cambian e entramos en diferentes fases: vixilia, sono lixeiro, profundo e MOR ou movementos oculares rápidos. Estas fases relaciónanse con desordes do sono pero tamén con outras enfermidades. Por exemplo, as desordes no MOR están relacionadas coa depresión. Os desarranxos no sono profundo están asociados co alzhéimer. Se queremos representar o sono hoxe en día, enviaríamos a persoa ao hospital, poñeríanlle todos eses eléctrodos na testa e pediríanlle que durmise deste xeito.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
It's not really a happy experience.
Non é unha experiencia feliz.
So what if I tell you that I can do the same thing but without any of these electrodes on the person's body? So here is our device, transmitting very low power wireless signal, analyzes the reflections using AI and spits out the sleep stages throughout the night. So we know, for example, when this person is dreaming. Not just that ... we can even get your breathing while you are sitting like that, and without touching you. So he is sitting and reading and this is his inhales, exhales. We asked him to hold his breath, and you see the signal staying at a steady level because he exhaled. He did not inhale. And I want to zoom in on the signal. And this is the same signal as before. These are the inhales, these are the exhales. And you see these blips on the signal? These are not noise. They are his heartbeats. And you can see them beat by beat.
E se vos dixera que podemos facer exactamente o mesmo pero sen todos eses eléctrodos no corpo? Aquí temos o noso dispositivo, mediante a transmisión de sinais sen fíos moi baixos analiza as reflexións utilizando IA e vai indicando as fases do sono ao longo da noite. Sabemos, por exemplo, cando unha persoa está soñando. Non só iso. Ata podemos gravar a vosa respiración mentres estades aí sentados e sen tocarvos. Aquí está sentado lendo e isto é a inhalación e expiración. Pedímoslle que contivese o alento e podedes ver que o sinal mantense nun nivel estábel porque só expirou. Non inhalou. Agora quero facer zoom no sinal. É o mesmo sinal que antes. Estas son as inspiracións e estas as expiracións. E vedes esas pulsacións no sinal? Non son ruído. Son os latexos do corazón. Podedes ver latexo a latexo.
So I want to stop here for a moment and show you a live demo. Zach is going to help me with the demo, and we're going to use the device to monitor Zach's breathing. So this white box that you see here is the device, and Zach is turning it on ... and let's see whether he breathes well. So we're going to do exactly what we did in the video with the other guy, so the wireless signal is going through, it's touching Zach's body, and it's reflecting back to the device, and we want to monitor his breathing, his inhale-exhale motion. So we see the inhales, exhales -- so see, these ups and downs are Zach breathing. Inhaling, exhaling.
Quero parar aquí un momento e facer unha demostración en directo Zach vai axudarnos coa demostración. Imos usar o aparello para controlar a súa respiración. Esta caixa branca que vedes aquí é o dispositivo. Zach está a acendelo. Imos ver se respira ben. Imos facer exactamente o mesmo ca no vídeo co outro tipo de modo que o sinal o atravese, toque o corpo de Zach e se reflicta de volta no aparello. Queremos controlar a súa respiración, o movemento inspira-expira. Vemos como inspira, expira. Vedes, ese sube e baixa é Zach respirando. Inspira, expira.
(Applause)
(Aplauso)
So, he can breathe.
Ou sexa, sabe respirar.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Zach, can you hold your breath, please?
Zach, poderías aguantar a respiración?
OK, so now he's holding his breath, so you see the signal stays at a steady level, and these are his heartbeats. Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat.
Ok, agora está aguantando a respiración, podemos ver que o sinal segue estábel e estes son os latexos. Pum, pum, pum, pum, pum.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
OK, Zach, you can breathe again.
OK, Zach, xa podes volver respirar.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
We don't want accidents here.
Non queremos accidentes aquí.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
OK, thank you.
Ok, grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
So as you can see, we have this device that can monitor so many physiological signals for you, and what is really interesting about this device is that it does all this without any wearables, without asking the person to change his behavior or to wear anything or charge anything special. And that got doctors very excited, because doctors, they always want to know more information about their patients, particularly at home, and this is particularly true in chronic diseases, like pulmonary diseases, like COPD, or heart failure or Alzheimer's and even depression. All of these chronic diseases are very important. In fact -- perhaps you know -- two-thirds of the cost of health care in the US is due to chronic diseases. But what is really interesting about chronic diseases is that when the person, for example, has a problem that leads to the hospital and the emergency room, this problem doesn't happen overnight. Actually, things happen gradually. So if we can monitor chronic disease patients in their home, we can detect changes in their breathing, heartbeat, mobility, sleep -- and we can detect emergencies before they occur and have the doctor intervene earlier so that we can avoid hospitalization.
Como podedes ver, temos este instrumento que pode controlarche tantos signos fisiolóxicos e o realmente interesante sobre el é que fai todo iso sen sensores, sen pedirlle á persoa que cambie os seus hábitos ou que leve ou cargue nada especial. Isto entusiasma aos médicos. Porque os doutores sempre queren ter máis información sobre os seus pacientes, particularmente na casa. Isto é especialmente certo nas enfermidades crónicas coma as pneumolóxicas tipo DPOC ou problemas cardíacos ou alzhéimer e incluso, na depresión. Todas esas enfermidades son moi importantes. De feito, quizais o saiban, dous terzos do custo sanitario nos EUA débese a enfermidades crónicas. Pero o realmente interesante sobre estas enfermidades é cando a persoa, por exemplo, ten un problema que a leva ás urxencias do hospital ese problema non pasa dun día para outro. Ao contrario, sucede gradualmente. Se podemos vixiar na súa casa aos pacientes crónicos poderemos notar cambios na respiración, no pulso, na mobilidade ou o sono. Poderemos detectar urxencias antes de que ocorran e facer que o médico interveña antes de modo que evitemos a hospitalización.
And indeed, today we are working with multiple doctors in different disease categories. So I'm really excited because we have deployed the device with many patients. We have deployed the device with patients that have COPD, which is a pulmonary disease, patients that have Alzheimer's, patients that have depression and anxiety and people that have Parkinson's. And we are working with the doctors on improving their life, understanding the disease better.
Por suposto, hoxe estamos traballando con múltiples doutores en diferentes tipos de enfermidades. Estou realmente contenta porque desenvolvemos este aparello con moitos pacientes. Fixémolo con pacientes que teñen DPOC, unha enfermidade pulmonar, con pacientes de alzhéimer, pacientes que teñen depresión e ansiedade e persoas con párkinson. Estamos traballando cos médicos en mellorar a súa vida, en comprender mellor a enfermidade.
So when I started, I told you that I'm really fascinated with Star Wars and the Force in Star Wars, and indeed, I'm still very much fascinated, even now, as a grown-up, with Star Wars, waiting for the next movie. But I'm very fascinated now and excited about this new Force of wireless signals, and the potential of changing health care with this new force.
Cando comecei, díxenvos que me abraiaba <i>Star Wars</i> e a Forza. Por suposto, sigo fascinada con <i>Star Wars</i> incluso agora de adulta, á espreita da próxima película. Pero agora pásmame e arrebátame esta nova Forza dos sinais sen fíos e o seu potencial para cambiar a asistencia sanitaria.
One of the patients with whom we deployed is actually my aunt. She has heart failure, and I'm sure many of you guys in the audience have parents, grandparents, loved ones who have chronic diseases. So I want you to imagine with me a future where in every home that has a chronic disease patient, there is a device like this device sitting in the background and just monitoring passively sleep, breathing, the health of this chronic disease patient, and before an emergency occurs, it would detect the degradation in the physiological signal and alert the doctor so that we can avoid hospitalization. This can change health care as we know it today, improve how we understand chronic diseases and also save many lives.
Un dos pacientes cos que traballamos é de feito a miña tía Ten unha cardiopatía. Seguro que moitos de vós no público tedes pais, avós, seres queridos con enfermidades crónicas. Quero que imaxinedes comigo un futuro en que cada casa cun paciente crónico ten un aparello coma este nalgún curruncho e simplemente controla de modo pasivo o sono, a respiración, a saúde do paciente crónico. Antes de que apareza a emerxencia detectamos a degradación dos signos fisiolóxicos e alertamos ao doutor para evitar a hospitalización. Isto pode cambiar a asistencia sanitaria tal e como a coñecemos, mellorar a nosa comprensión sobre as enfermidades crónicas e abofé salvar moitas vidas.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
Helen Walters: Dina, thank you so much. Thank you too, Zach. So glad you're breathing. So Dina, this is amazing. The positive applications are incredible. What is the framework, though, like the ethical framework around this? What are you doing to prevent this technology from being used for other, perhaps less positive types of applications?
Helen Waters: Dina, moitas grazas. Grazas tamén, Zach. Que ben que respires! Dina, isto é abraiante. As aplicacións positivas son incribles. Cal é o marco de traballo, é dicir, o marco ético en todo isto? Que se pode facer para evitar que esta tecnoloxía sexa usada para outros propósitos digamos menos positivos?
Dina Katabi: Yeah, this is a very important question, of course, like, what about misuse, or what about, I guess you could say, about the Dark Side of the Force?
Dina Katabi: Si, por suposto que é unha cuestión importante a do mal uso, ou tamén poderiamos dicir o lado escuro da Forza?
HW: Right, right.
HW: Claro, claro.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
DK: So we actually have technologies that prevent people from trying to use this device to monitor somebody without their consent. Because the device understands space, it will ask you to prove, by doing certain movements, that you have access to the space and you are the person who you are asking the device to monitor. So technology-wise, we have technology that we integrate to prevent misuse, but also, I think there is a role for policy, like everything else, and hopefully, with the two of them, we can control any misuse.
DK: De feito, dispomos de ferramentas para evitar que a xente use este aparello para controlar a alguén sen o seu consentimento. Porque o aparello comprende o espazo, pedirache que probes mediante certos movementos que tes acceso ao espazo arredor e que es a persoa que solicita iniciar a monitorización. Desde o punto de vista tecnolóxico, temos tecnoloxía que integramos para previr un mal uso pero tamén hai sitio para a lexislación, coma en todo, e esperamos que entre as dúas partes poidamos controlar o abuso.
HW: Amazing. Thank you so much.
HW: Fantástico. Moitísimas grazas.
DK: Thank you.
DK: Grazas a ti.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)