With a creative spirit and a desire to apply science to life, a group of students from the University of Science and Technology (DUT) 0 the University of Danang (UD) developed the RespirAI project - a device to assist doctors in diagnosing and detecting lung diseases early.

The project has just won the second prize in the 5th Student Technology Startup Competition - InTE_UD 2025 organized by the Youth Union - Student Association of UD in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology of the city at the end of October 2025.

AI applications improve lung disease diagnosis

Based on the fact that Vietnam has a high rate of people suffering from respiratory diseases, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in children, a group of students from the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, UD-DUT decided to find a way to apply technology to more effectively support the medical industry.

With that spirit, the team has researched and developed RespirAI - a smart medical device integrated with artificial intelligence (AI), capable of supporting doctors in detecting, monitoring and diagnosing lung diseases early.

The device is compactly designed and can record sounds at many different locations on the lungs such as: apex of the lungs, middle lungs and lower lungs.

Student Nguyen Thien Quoc, a team member, said that RespirAI was born with the desire to apply AI to improve accuracy and efficiency in diagnosis, contributing to improving the quality of life of patients.

The project develops an AI-integrated smart stethoscope (Smart Stethoscope) capable of digitizing lung sounds, analyzing in real time and supporting the diagnosis of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

After recording, the system will automatically filter noise and analyze the signal through a trained AI model to identify unusual acoustic characteristics.

The processed data is presented in a visual graph and sent to the doctor as an initial reference source for the diagnosis process. Thereby, supporting doctors and medical staff to diagnose more accurately, thanks to the reduction of noise during the use of the stethoscope.

In addition, the active recording device helps doctors monitor the disease's progress and can diagnose remotely thanks to IoT (Internet of Things) technology, helping to reduce patient travel time and costs.

Compared with some similar products on the international market today, RespirAI has the advantage of automatically analyzing lung sounds and identifying pathologies using AI, while providing intuitive results through software.

This is a modern, low-cost medical solution, especially useful for remote areas and chronic patients, while building a medical ecosystem connecting patients, doctors and insurance companies. This solution helps shorten the diagnosis time, opens up the possibility of building electronic medical records and monitoring the progression of the disease through each stage, supporting future treatment.

From startup idea to practical product

According to student Vo Hoang, project team leader, InTE_UD 2025 is a playground that helps students combine knowledge of technology, medicine and startups, while challenging their ability to bring products from the lab to the market.

“We do not just stop at programming or designing equipment in the laboratory, but also directly survey the field, consult with doctors, patients and technical advisors so that the product is truly suitable for treatment needs,” said Hoang.

Using this approach, the team refined the hardware design, optimized audio capture and processing capabilities, and trained the AI ​​model on precisely processed medical data.

Each testing phase involves expert consultation to ensure reliability of the analysis results.

In the coming time, the team plans to continue upgrading the software, improving the AI ​​model and expanding clinical trials at medical facilities to refine the algorithm and improve accuracy.

At the same time, register patents and apply for medical device certification, as a premise for product commercialization.

The RespirAI project applies core technology including smart sensors, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to support doctors in remote examination and treatment, analysis and providing fast and accurate diagnosis results.

The project is highly applicable, directly serving community health care, in line with the current trend of digital healthcare and smart medical examination and treatment.

Danang News