Ashmita Kumar was just eight years old when her grandfather had a stroke that left him unable to walk or talk. He did not recognize the warning signs like a drooping face and slurred speech. By the time he saw a doctor, the effects were so severe he could not even recognize his own family.
In 2021, Kumar faced another scare when half of her father’s face began to sag. Stroke risks ran in her family, and they both knew the signs. Luckily, it was not a stroke.
But it left Kumar wondering if there was a way to detect stroke signs with devices we already own. Kumar is now a third-year student at UC Berkeley. She founded a startup called Code Blue that uses cameras and microphones on phones, computers, and smart devices along with AI to alert users to early signs of a stroke before they are aware of them.
It can also call for emergency help, which may reduce the effects caused by treatment delays. “Everybody has devices now, especially after COVID, and telehealth has taken off,” said Kumar, who studies electrical engineering and computer sciences. “So why don’t we use that as a way to make sure that people, when they experience a stroke, can use those existing devices to get treatment when they need it?”
Kumar pitched the idea at a summit in 2023.
People shared stories about loved ones who would have benefited from this kind of technology. “After hearing all of that,” Kumar said, “we knew we owed it to everybody to do our best and try to build it.”
Over 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke each year. Someone dies from a stroke every three minutes.
Patients who get to an ER within three hours of their first symptoms often have fewer long-term disabilities three months after a stroke than those who receive delayed care. Hospitals use tools to detect strokes, but these do not help people recognize the signs in the first place. Code Blue puts monitoring technology on the devices we use every day.
Doctors can prescribe the tool for patients who may be at a higher risk of stroke.
AI detects early stroke signs
That allows these patients to activate the Code Blue program on their devices.
The program then checks their speech and facial images every 30 seconds and monitors changes, like slurred words or uneven facial expressions. “The idea is that you set it up, and then you forget about it,” Kumar said. The images and sounds are analyzed for patterns and then deleted.
No images or speech data are stored to protect patient privacy. Only the patterns used to compare the data over time remain. The program alerts users if signs of a stroke are detected.
It can also notify emergency services that a patient may be having a stroke, ensuring that first responders know to transport the patient to a facility with proper care teams and enhanced testing tools. Kumar is working with doctors at UC San Francisco to pilot test the program with five patients. She plans to soon grow the test size to about 100 patients.
Her team is also seeking FDA approvals to allow the technology to be more widely adopted, similar to other consumer electronics like the Apple Watch that can detect heartbeat issues. “Ashmita’s work is a great example of Berkeley students using technology and innovation for the greater good,” said Darren Cooke, UC Berkeley’s interim chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer. “Code Blue is also an example of a team that’s benefited from many of UC Berkeley’s entrepreneurship-supporting resources.”
Kumar has used several Berkeley programs to help with her idea.
She took part in contests at the campus’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology and was the grand prize winner last year in the Blum Center’s Big Ideas Contest. She also attended the National Science Foundation I-Corps boot camp, which helps university scientists and engineers bring innovations to market. And she has been a part of the UC Launchathon at Berkeley Haas and Berkeley’s SkyDeck Pad-13 incubator.
Next, Kumar will compete on April 2 against entrepreneurs from universities across the country for the ACC InVenture Prize. Participants will pitch their ideas to a live audience and judges at the University of Notre Dame, competing for $30,000 in prizes. The contest will be broadcast live in the Bay Area on KQED starting at 4 p.m.
“We’ve been a part of a lot of Berkeley’s startup ecosystem,” Kumar said.
“I honestly think if I hadn’t gone to Berkeley, none of this would have happened.”
