Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Awarded $39.3 Million to Develop AI-Based Fetal Monitoring System

ARPA-H has awarded up to $39.3 million to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and academic collaborators to develop a wearable fetal monitoring system that uses AI to detect and manage low fetal oxygen during labor, announced in a press release.

The four-year project is part of ARPA-H’s Making Obstetrics Care Smart program and is led by Carnegie Mellon University with co-leadership from CHOP. The research team aims to design a noninvasive, wireless system that collects physiological signals from sensors placed on the mother. These data will be combined with electronic medical records to train AI models that identify when a fetus is at risk of hypoxia.

The system is intended to give clinicians clearer insight into fetal oxygen levels, helping them distinguish between real distress and false alarms. The team plans to conduct clinical studies to test the technology and develop a simple interface for labor room use. The goal is to achieve regulatory approval for a reliable, real time system that supports timely and precise clinical decisions.