No need to get up! Doctors can accurately measure subtle changes in your heartbeat from across the room without touching you

The next time you go to the doctors surgery, your GP may be able to take your vitals without even touching you, thanks to new remote sensing technology being developed in Japan.

Scientists are working on a method of detecting your heartbeat without sensors on the body, which they claim is as accurate as an electrocardiogram (ECG).

It could be used for 'casual sensing' of heart activity as people go about their lives, providing more accurate readings of people's typical cardiac activity under a range of conditions.

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Scientists from Kyoto University in Japan have developed a method of remotely detecting your heartbeat without sensors on the body, which they claim is as accurate as an electrocardiogram (ECG). Pictured is a stock image of an ECG readout 

Working with electronics manufacturer Panasonic, scientists at the Kyoto University Center of Innovation, can remotely detect the 'lub dub' of a beating heart.

Hiroyuki Sakai, a researcher at Panasonic, explained: 'Taking measurements with sensors on the body can be stressful and troublesome, because you have to stop what you're doing.

'What we tried to make was something that would offer people a way to monitor their body in a casual and relaxed environment.'

The approach uses millimetre-wave spread-spectrum radar technology to catch the 'chaotic soup' of signals sent out by the body.

The approach uses millimetre-wave spread-spectrum radar technology to catch the ‘chaotic soup’ of signals sent out by the body. The technology is being developed in partnership with electronics firm Panasonic 

The test system (pictured) consists of commercial parts available in the market, and measures around 20 inches (50cm). The team expects the device to be available 'in a few to several years from now'

An algorithm then processes the information to pick out the signals from the noise.

Professor Toru Sato, a professor of communications and computer engineering at Kyoto University, added: 'Heartbeats aren't the only signals the radar catches. 

'The body sends out all sorts of signals at once, including breathing and body movement. 

'It's a chaotic soup of information

'Our algorithm differentiates all of that. It extracts waves characteristic of heart beats from the radar signal and calculates their intervals.'

'Now that we know that remote sensing is possible, we'll need to make the measurement ability more robust so that the system can monitor subjects in various age ranges and in many different contexts,' added Professor Sato.

He told MailOnline: 'This is a test system consisting of commercial parts available in the market, and has a size of about 50cm.

'Panasonic will make a much more compact system when they develop a commercial product, although the plan is not fixed yet.'

He added that the team expect the device to be available 'in a few to several years from now.'

A remote heart sensor would add to the emerging range of contactless medical devices.

Gaming consoles have already taken the lead in the field. 

In 2013, Microsoft demonstrated that its next-generation Kinect sensor is able to detect and monitor a person's heart rate from around four feet away - without touching them. 

The researchers said that taking measurements with sensors on the body can be 'stressful and troublesome, because you have to stop what you're doing.' The remote sensing device will enable people to 'monitor their body in a casual and relaxed environment’. A stock image illustrates a patient in hospital receiving an ECG

ECGs monitor the activity of the heart through sensors that detect its electrical impulses. These impulses are then displayed in the form of a graph, on paper or on monitors (stock image of ECG pictured). The sensors measure voltage from the heart's 'depolarisation' action at the location of the sensors

The device is able to recognise tiny colour changes in the skin's surface caused by blood in vessels under the surface.

It measures these changes to establish how fast the blood is pumping, and so can then determine how many beats per minute the heart needs to make in order to reach that speed. 

Elsewhere, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently designed a system that measures vital signs through brick walls.

It works by transmitting low-power wireless signals and using their reflections to track moving humans, even if they are behind closed doors or a wall.

As the signal is transmitted at a wall, a portion of it penetrates through and reflects off a person on the other side.

According to the MIT team, the technology is so accurate it can measure the minute changes in a person's chest as they breathe, giving a reading for their heart rate with 99 per cent accuracy.

This could, for example, monitor a baby's breathing and heart rate remotely, or keep an eye on an elderly relative living at home alone.