Check Yourself for a Fever with a DIY Thermal Scanner

Virtually Maker Faire 2020

May 22nd-23rd

Unfortunately, many places around the world lack fast, reliable, medical care and individuals in those locations don't have the same options and opportunities for high quality medical care. One quick and easy way to check for the presence of a fever is to use a thermal camera coupled with a Raspberry Pi and an LCD to test skin temperature, which is usually in the range of 32ºC to 34ºC (89ºF to 93ºF). While this device is not intended to replace proper medical-grade equipment and of course individuals should follow up with medical professionals, this is a quick way for home users to check for a possible fever, or to test individuals in rapid succession or within a group, to help identify possible candidates for further screening.

The project is rather simple to build, combining off-the-shelf parts with some simple, ready-made code that is pushed to the Raspberry Pi.

The basic idea is that the Thermal Scanner is connected to the Raspberry Pi, and the Pi has an LCD attached that shows a GUI with the detected temperature and thermal image. This setup is cheap to build, portable, and can quickly scan individuals rapidly to look for those with elevated temperatures.