KeHui JianYuan Submits IPO Prospectus: Pioneering AI Pathological Robots for Early Screening and Intervention in Childhood Autism and Language Development Disorders

1943In the year, U.S. Johns· Johns Hopkins University expert Leo Kanner first proposed the concept of autism. Autism is a developmental disorder, medically known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized primarily by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

In recent years, the prevalence of autism has risen significantly worldwide, with an incidence rate of 1%–1.5%. On March 26, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the latest prevalence data on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States: one in every 54 children was diagnosed with ASD by age 8, representing a nearly 10% increase from the previous estimate.

Autism has a profound impact on children's language development. Compared with neurotypical children, those with autism exhibit delayed speech development. Language impairments and related issues lead to narrowed interests, stereotyped and repetitive behaviors, and social withdrawal in children with autism. More severely, autism can cause stagnation in neural maturation, significantly affecting patients' daily functioning and physical development.

In China, the prevalence of language disorders in children is approximately 2%–3%. If conditions such as stuttering are included in the statistics, the rate may be as high as 11%. Physicians or parents typically identify these conditions during the school-age years; however, the critical period for language acquisition is between ages 0 and 6. Delayed intervention for childhood language problems can lead to severe adverse consequences.

Some experts have stated, “Children with autism have a poor prognosis; most lack the ability to live, study, and work independently in adulthood, becoming a heavy burden on their families and society.”

Currently, there are no targeted pharmacological treatments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in clinical practice. However, an increasing number of studies in recent years have demonstrated that early screening, early detection, and early behavioral intervention can significantly improve the poor prognosis in children with ASD. Moreover, the earlier the age at diagnosis and the initiation of intervention, the more pronounced the therapeutic effects.

At present, autism spectrum disorder and childhood language disorders face challenges such as late detection, difficult diagnosis, complex assessment, and arduous rehabilitation. To address this market gap, Kehui Jianyuan has developed a series of AI-powered pathological robots. Zhu Lingyan, Chairman of Kehui Jianyuan, stated: “The AI Pathology Series Robot targets the untapped market for pathological speech analysis and intervention. By integrating technologies such as an intelligent neural network system for pathological speech and big data analytics, it enables early screening, clinical diagnosis, and rehabilitation training for conditions including autism spectrum disorder, articulation disorders, and language developmental delays.”

KeHui JianYuan focuses on the market for pathological speech analysis and intervention. As a high-tech enterprise, it is dedicated to the research, development, production, and sales of innovative AI-driven pathological robots, helping children with autism and language-related developmental disorders overcome disease-related hardships and grow up healthy and happy.

Recently, Kehui Jianyuan secured third prize in the enterprise category of the 2020 “Maker Guangdong” Biopharmaceutical SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, hosted by Guangdong Medical Valley, leveraging its technological advantages and project highlights. The company also received multiple incentives, including an award for new settlement at Guangdong Medical Valley’s Nansha Industrial Park, rental subsidies, and innovation vouchers. Kehui Jianyuan has now established its presence at the Guangdong Medical Valley Nansha Industrial Park.

Zhu Lingyan, Chairman of Kehui Jianyuan, told VCBeat: “China’s autism intervention industry started relatively late. Currently, there are few doctors in China qualified to diagnose autism, and autism rehabilitation therapists can cover only 3–5% of the autistic population. In addition, some rehabilitation institutions have not fully mastered medical intervention methods and lack comprehensive and effective safety and efficacy assessments. Therefore, there is an urgent market demand for highly precise and professional equipment for screening, diagnosis, and rehabilitation training for autism and language-related developmental disorders.”

Kehui Jianyuan’s pathology robots have gained popularity in their target market thanks to their superior performance, exceptional precision and efficiency, high screening accuracy, and reliable pathological diagnostic capabilities. Zhu Lingyan revealed, “In just the first half of 2019, sales of our AI-powered pathology robot series exceeded RMB 10 million. As of May 2020, cumulative product sales had surpassed RMB 12 million, with full-year total revenue projected to reach RMB 30 million.”

What Is the Basic Principle of AI-Based Pathology Robots?

According to reports, the AI pathology robot series developed by Kehui Jianyuan utilizes artificial intelligence facial recognition technology, eye-tracking and eye-movement data analysis technology, digital speech analysis technology for pathology, and screening systems for autism and language-related disorders to screen for and identify conditions such as speech delay, childhood articulation disorders, autism, and global developmental delay of speech and motor skills.

Facial recognition technology, leveraging deep learning models integrated with databases, captures dynamic facial data from pediatric subjects within contextual paradigms and performs real-time model analysis to assess the likelihood of autism. By analyzing gaze trajectories and visual attention concentration, eye-tracking devices work in conjunction with facial recognition technology to screen for and diagnose autism in children.

Pathological Speech Digital Analysis Technology screens for childhood dysarthria by extracting relevant acoustic feature parameters, calculating comprehensive acoustic parameters, and employing a dual-module weighted integration method.

The Autism and Language-Related Disorders Screening System comprises four modules: the Language Developmental Delay Module, the Dysarthria Module, the Autism Module, and the Motor Developmental Delay Module. The Language Developmental Delay Module serves as the foundation and core of the system, interconnecting with the other three modules through algorithmic technologies. Users initially enter the Language Developmental Delay Module, which then directs them selectively to the other three modules based on computational analysis. Subsequently, the Autism and Language-Related Disorders Screening System conducts intelligent screening by integrating facial recognition technology, eye-tracking and gaze data analysis, and digital pathological speech analysis.

Zhu Lingyan stated, “Compared with traditional scales for autism or language delay, this AI screening system offers significant advantages. First, it enables a comprehensive, multi-dimensional profiling of autism characteristics. Second, it intelligently recognizes children’s facial emotions and affects, facilitating the identification of autism. Third, it provides feedback on eye contact through eye-tracking technology, thereby stimulating children’s desire to communicate. Fourth, it is more localized compared to the overseas assessment tools currently in use. Fifth, AI robots can be manufactured using precision molding technology, which lowers processing costs and makes them suitable for mass production.”

To date, the AI pathology robot series has achieved pilot-scale production and mass manufacturing. According to the results from technical testing platforms and clinical evaluations conducted at more than 20 Grade A tertiary hospitals:Childhood Autism and Language Developmental DisordersAIPathology Robot Pathology Speech Recognition Rate Reaches95%, the reliability and validity of the screening system reached97%。The difference in encryption structures between different batches of diagnosis and screening is less than 10^-3. This achievement is also leading internationally.

Notably, the second- and third-generation AI pathology robotics have undergone clinical trials at more than 20 hospitals, demonstrating favorable outcomes and earning recognition from top-tier (Grade A tertiary) hospitals, including The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Wuhan Union Hospital, and Jingzhou Central Hospital.

Currently, Kehui Jianyuan has established a product portfolio encompassing four major categories: screening robots for childhood autism and language development disorders, diagnostic robots, rehabilitation equipment enablement solutions, and big data analytics. With dozens of application scenarios, these products facilitate screening for autism and language-related developmental disorders in hospitals, special education schools, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and other institutions. The solutions are characterized by high diagnostic accuracy, system stability, and broad applicability.

The AI Pathology Series Robots enable children, the elderly, and other groups to undergo rehabilitation at home, thereby alleviating the burden on the government, hospitals, and society, improving overall public health, and enhancing the well-being of vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the integration of intelligent algorithms with big pathology data makes screening more objective, accurate, and rapid, meeting the needs for grassroots autism screening and facilitating the decentralization of autism screening technologies. The deployment of AI Pathology Series Robots will promote initial diagnosis at the primary care level and tiered diagnosis and treatment systems, thereby improving the utilization efficiency of medical resources.

Zhu Lingyan stated, “The intelligent transformation of the healthcare sector is a significant direction in scientific development and an inevitable trend. The AI pathology robot series developed by Kehui Jianyuan can advance domestic technologies in neurology, neural regeneration, speech disorders, and intracranial neuroscience. This will enhance China’s research capabilities and industrial strength in the fields of speech articulation disorders and pathological speech recognition, improve the development capacity for large-scale speech databases and artificial intelligence products, and align with advanced global technologies and development trends.”

The research, development, and production of the AII pathological series robots will also drive the coordinated development of related industrial chains, help traditional industries achieve industrial upgrading through the use of intelligent modules, promote national and local economic development, increase tax revenue, and create jobs. In this process, Kehui Jianyuan will also develop into an influential international enterprise with Chinese characteristics as a national brand.

To ensure product uniqueness, Kehui Jianyuan has placed significant emphasis on the protection of intellectual property rights for its technologies since the project’s inception. To date, the company has filed more than 70 domestic and international invention patents centered on its core technologies, establishing a multi-layered protective framework around these key innovations.

Currently, Kehui Jianyuan has mastered the automatic recognition technology for four-class disease classification using Deep Neural Networks (DNN), making it the only enterprise in China to possess a multimedia feedback control system based on physiological and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Furthermore, Kehui Jianyuan is the first to fully comprehend the role and mechanisms of non-visual light information transmission systems in regulating emotion and cognitive function, and it pioneered the establishment of a pathology database and big data center using large-scale high-dimensional data aggregation algorithms based on implicit privacy protection...

Zhu Lingyan told VCBeat, “Kehui Jianyuan has achieved so many technological innovations because of the strong innovative capabilities of its core team. We have assembled PhDs and master’s degree holders from six disciplines—clinical medicine, artificial intelligence, statistics, sociology, computer technology, and marketing—and began research and development on this project in 2016. Furthermore, our core team consists of PhDs and master’s degree holders, each with over 20 years of experience, making them senior experts in their respective fields. To date, team members have published more than a thousand papers in top-tier international journals.”

Looking ahead, Kehui Jianyuan will collaborate with universities and research institutions both in China and abroad to jointly develop AI-based screening and diagnostic devices, maintaining technological leadership on the global stage and thereby capturing overseas markets.

The 2020 “Maker Guangdong” Biomedical SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, guided by the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the Provincial Department of Finance, and hosted by Guangdong Medical Valley, focused on the biomedical sector. With over 100 project registrations, the competition comprised five online preliminary rounds and one offline special final round. Twelve high-quality projects were recommended to advance to the provincial semi-finals, all of which ranked within the top 10 in their respective Enterprise and Maker categories.

Guangdong Medical Valley is a service provider for medical industry clusters, specializing in investment and incubation within the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. Its first medical industrial park, located in Nansha, Guangzhou, is a key municipal project with a total gross floor area of 180,000 square meters. To date, more than 180 enterprises have settled in the park, including two companies founded by academicians and 13 participants in national major projects. Leading enterprises such as EditoGene, Genetron Health, and Tianke Ya have been introduced, covering various sub-sectors including biopharmaceuticals, gene editing, vaccines, immunotherapy, high-end medical devices, stem cells, and medical industry funds. The park is committed to building a world-class international innovation center for the medical industry.