There is a $10M prize in the XPRIZE competition to develop a functioning machine portable machine that can assess a patient for 15 conditions. There are 31 teams entering the competition. That will be whittled down to 10 during the qualifying rounds in April 2014.
Scientific American describes XPRIZE Unveils Medical Tricorder Teams.
The goal is to develop
a mobile device weighing five pounds or less that can diagnose and interpret 15 different medical condition—including diabetes, atrial fibrillation, stroke and tuberculosis—as well as capture a range of vital health metrics, including blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature.
That nifty cool tricorder that Bones used all the time isn’t quite so far-fetched. First team to develop a functioning one gets a $10M prize and can then take it to market.
Previously mentioned the idea of a tricorder at: