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Korean medtech firms skipped the hype and showed their hand at this year’s Korea International Medical & Hospital Equipment Show (KIMES 2025), spotlighting AI tools built for waiting rooms, not research labs.
A triage kiosk, malnutrition screener, and walk-up ECG station were already in beta, drawing crowds and clinical interest on the show floor.
AITRICS introduces a virtual assistant for efficient patient intake
AITRICS showcases V.Doc, its generative AI-powered triage tool designed to streamline patient intake with adaptive, real-time questioning. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
AITRICS showcases V.Doc, its generative AI-powered triage tool designed to streamline patient intake with adaptive, real-time questioning. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
AITRICS kicked off with the launch of V.Doc, a generative AI-powered assistant built to automate the front end of a clinical encounter. The system dynamically guides patients through real-time, symptom-based questioning, adapting each prompt based on the last.
At the company’s booth on Friday, AITRICS’ speech engineer and self-described “virtual doctor” Han Woo-seok ran a demo for Korea Biomedical Review that began with a tap: "orthopedics."
The interface responded with "Where does it hurt?" A diagram of the body let users tap the area—in this case, the arm. Then came: "Since when?" followed by an optional input for height and weight, then, "Has the pain changed over time?"
Each question updated based on the previous response, mimicking the logic of a clinical interview. "We trained it using real interviews with residents at Severance Hospital," Han said. “It behaves like a first-year resident—with the time and consistency patients don’t always get in busy clinics.”
The tool handles six to 10 questions on average—or as few as three for common colds—before auto-generating a structured EMR summary and draft care plan. It currently supports 11 specialties and recognizes more than 4,000 conditions.
V.Doc is in beta at several Gangnam-area clinics, with a mobile version already live for at-home intake. Both are designed to integrate with minimal workflow disruption.
InBody pulls clinical malnutrition screening out of hospitals
Nearly 50 attendees line up to try InBody’s GLIM-based malnutrition screening kiosk for muscle and frailty assessment. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
Nearly 50 attendees line up to try InBody’s GLIM-based malnutrition screening kiosk for muscle and frailty assessment. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
At InBody’s booth, nearly 50 attendees queued up to try the company’s malnutrition screening kiosk—a Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM)-aligned system that measures skeletal muscle index, fat-free mass, and grip strength in under two minutes.
Best known for its body composition analyzers, InBody is now pushing into clinical nutrition with a tool aimed at catching frailty in elderly and cancer patients.
At the booth, an InBody spokesperson said the company is targeting “places people actually pass through”—government buildings, corporate offices, and pharmacies—not just hospitals. “We’re pulling this out of clinical settings and into daily life,” she said.
No paper forms were in sight and only tablets were used at the booth. "The results now sync directly to a tablet or app, eliminating paper and appointment bottlenecks."
A gait analysis module, still in development, will add mobility loss as a data point—another key factor in GLIM-based evaluations. The first launch markets are aimed for Korea and Japan, where national guidelines have already begun incorporating GLIM criteria into public health screening.
VUNO brings walk-up ECGs to public health
VUNO Chief Scientific Officer Lim Seok-hun stands next to the Hativ K30, a self-service ECG kiosk designed for public screening environments. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
VUNO Chief Scientific Officer Lim Seok-hun stands next to the Hativ K30, a self-service ECG kiosk designed for public screening environments. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
VUNO introduced its HATIV K30, a self-service ECG kiosk built for screening centers, health departments, and public institutions. The unit records a six-lead ECG in 30 seconds using hand and foot electrodes, then prints out results with AI-generated analysis for arrhythmias and heart age.
The device builds on the previously cleared HATIV P30 portable ECG, which recently received CE MDR certification, but shifts the focus to high-throughput public settings. Chief Scientific Officer Lim Seok-hun said the kiosk is part of a broader strategy to embed diagnostics where care gaps typically form.
“If you want to catch heart disease early, you don’t wait for a cardiologist,” Lim said. “You bring the diagnostic to where people already are.” The company is aiming for reimbursement-backed deployment in government spaces. Expansion will hinge on public sector partnerships and coverage alignment, according to Lim.
Samsung highlights AI-focused OB/GYN and radiology systems
Samsung Medison centered its booth on the HERA Z20, an OB/GYN ultrasound system packed with AI-driven automation. Live ViewAssist and EzVolume classify and segment 3D fetal anatomy in real time, while add-ons like HeartAssist, BiometryAssist, and UterineAssist handle fetal heart measurements, growth tracking, and uterine structure analysis.
PortraitVue, a generative AI tool, reconstructs lifelike fetal faces—even when partially obscured—aimed at reducing clinician workload while enhancing patient-facing visuals.
Across the aisle, the company also highlighted its RS85A for general imaging and the GF85 digital X-ray system, which features on-device CAD tools like S-Enhance and SimGrid to improve clarity without boosting radiation or altering hardware setups.
A Samsung Medison spokesperson for the domestic sales team said KIMES functioned as both “sales accelerator and testing ground,” with biomedical engineers dominating early-week traffic and private-practice physicians filling the demo lounge by Friday. Several hands-on sessions, he said, led to deals closed on-site.
With around 80 percent of revenue coming from exports, the strategy is to build to global spec from day one. “We don’t build for Korea and adapt for export,” the Samsung spokesperson said. “Global is the starting point.”
HLB Healthcare moves into FemTech and painless diabetes care
HLB Healthcare showcases its self-retracting blood glucose lancet and a rapid vaginitis test kit aimed at clinics and home use. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
HLB Healthcare showcases its self-retracting blood glucose lancet and a rapid vaginitis test kit aimed at clinics and home use. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
HLB Healthcare marked the domestic launch of its self-retracting safety lancet for blood glucose monitoring. The product is already cleared in Korea and is set for rollout in Southeast Asia and the U.S.
“Daily testing creates drop-off if it hurts or feels intimidating,” said Ryan Kim, managing director of HLB Healthcare’s business division. “We wanted to remove that friction point.”
At the booth, Kim repeatedly demonstrated the lancet on himself. “No one wanted to try it,” he said. “So I used my own finger—15 times.” Korea Biomedical Review tested it as well: the click was audible, the pain negligible.
The company also introduced a rapid test kit for diagnosing vaginitis. The cartridge-based system detects multiple bacterial strains in under 15 minutes and is aimed at OB/GYN clinics, with future plans for direct-to-consumer channels.
“FemTech is still underdeveloped in Korea, and diagnostic tools rarely make it past the hospital,” Kim said. “We’re building out a product line that can move across settings—clinic, pharmacy, even home use.”
HLB Healthcare is pursuing approvals across Europe, Japan, and Latin America, positioning both its diagnostic and women’s health offerings for export.
Philips Korea leans on software to streamline ultrasound
Philips Korea showcased six ultrasound systems at its booth, but the spotlight was on software updates to its flagship EPIQ Elite and Affiniti 70—designed to cut keystrokes and speed up high-volume imaging tasks.
The Elite’s Auto ElastQ, now updated to version VM 12.0, automates shear wave elastography for liver stiffness assessments. According to a Philips Korea spokesperson for the ultrasound division at the booth, the upgrade reduces manual input by nearly 30 percent, streamlining a procedure typically slowed by repetitive adjustments.
Affiniti 70, running VM 11.0, added cardiac-focused tools like Auto Strain, which simultaneously calculates ejection fraction, global longitudinal strain, and wall motion scoring. Both systems now operate on a shared platform, giving hospitals a modular upgrade path instead of siloed machines. “Hospitals want flexibility without buying 10 different devices,” the spokesperson said. “Unifying the platform gets them there.”
Also on display were the Compact 5500 for emergency settings and Lumify, a smartphone-compatible mobile ultrasound. The Affiniti VM 12.0 update is still awaiting regulatory clearance but was approved for live demo use during the show.
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Kim Ji-hye jkim404@docdocdoc.co.kr
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