At the end of the robot’s white arm, the camera approaches, seems to sniff out the patient, then starts moving to take pictures of the entire skin in less than five minutes. Swan – “swan” in French –, the prototype of the start-up SquareMind, is in a way a dermatologist assistant. The patient, in his underwear, sits in front of the Swan screen, legs slightly apart. In front of him, six cameras check that the position is correct. Then, the robot arm wakes up and starts scanning the legs, rotating around the trunk and arms. And in just a few minutes, photograph and record all lesions and moles.
The doctor then receives the data. And from his computer screen, he can zoom in on each suspicious grain or lesion and see if they are a sign of skin cancer: “This is the first time that a machine has made it possible to have the precision of the magnifying glass of a dermatologist,” says Ali Khachlouf, co-founder of the company. Then, thanks to artificial intelligence, “the machine will compare from one appointment to another and signal a change in appearance on its own,” he continues. The doctor will then be able to concentrate on the indicated area.
