Photos: Healthcare tech on show at Orange Labs

Say hello to a childcare robot and a handset for diabetics...

Orange Business Services has been showing off a selection of healthcare technology this month.

At the Orange Labs R&D facility in Paris, the operator demoed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) - pictured above - which is designed to monitor and treat life-threatening arrhythmia and heart failure by administering shocks as and when needed.

If the patient's heart is behaving abnormally, such as beating too slow or too fast, the device can deliver an electrical treatment accordingly.

The M2M device is made by medical equipment maker Sorin Group, and can also monitor a patient's daily breathing and activity levels.

Readings taken by the device can be wirelessly transmitted back to a physican via an IP network box installed in the patient's home.

Using the system, doctors can check on patients' progress remotely and adapt treatment as necessary.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com

Orange also showed off this mobile pack for diabetics.

The pack measures and records patients' blood sugar levels - with the option to send the data back to their doctor by using the HTC handset included in the pack (pictured top). The device has been deployed in the Spanish market.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com

Orange Labs also demoed this childcare robot - currently only a research project but one that the operator envisages could be turned into a commercial offering in the next few years.

The robot has entertainment functions - such as the ability to read stories to children - but is also able to take instructions from humans using voice recognition technology, enabling it to send a SMS alerting a parent that a child is feeling unwell, for instance.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com