the laboratory of Viva Good – Artificial Intelligence Project for Health and Well-Being, launched through a partnership between Unicamp, Samsung and the SiDi Institute, officially opened its doors this Wednesday (30). Installed at the Institute of Computing (IC) at Unicamp, the space is the newest achievement of a hub which brings together artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and the internet in order to think of solutions for the areas of health and well-being. Its inauguration was attended by Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, rector of the University, Eduardo Conejo, senior innovation manager at Samsung, and Carlos Américo Pacheco, chairman of the technical-administrative council of the São Paulo Research Foundation. (Fapesp). Also participating in the event was the project coordinator, Professor Anderson Rocha.
Result of a decade of partnerships with Samsung, Viva Bem brings together researchers from five Unicamp units: the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, the Faculty of Physical Education, the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Faculty of Medical Sciences, in addition to of the CI itself. For the dean, collaboration between different areas favors innovation. “It is very positive to see so many units in a project of this scale. We need our knowledge to have an impact on society, on people's lives,” he observes.
The objective of the partnership is to develop technologies that can help in the investigation of health problems by capturing biosignals – such as heartbeats, brain information, tremors and loss of muscle mass – to be analyzed by AI. Research focuses range from diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and Parkinson's to anxiety, sleep disorders and loss of muscle mass, lists Anderson Rocha. “We want to contribute to the identification of patterns that allow a change of perspective in health, anticipating some predictions. So that our actions are more proactive and less reactive”, he explains.
Rocha believes that the combination of public and private resources, in addition to enabling the retention of human resources at a time of high competitiveness in the job market, facilitates research focused on technology development. “We already have some interesting results, which may become our partner's products”, he reveals.
Built on a whim, the Viva Bem laboratory took ten months to complete. The facility has stations for 47 researchers, including master's, doctoral, post-doctoral, professors and undergraduate students, to work daily and also has a meeting room for up to ten people. The project was financed with resources from Samsung, the IC and the Rectory of Unicamp. In total, the hub has 60 researchers.
Read more:
Viva Bem Project mobilizes Unicamp in partnership with SiDi and Samsung
Originally published on Unicamp website
