Prototyping Reflections
Our project has centered upon the idea of wire containment for pediatric patients. It was interesting to research the idea and find that babies in the past have suffered death from wire strangulation, when our idea originally came from parents being afraid to pick up there children and children picking at wire connections. I found harnesses as well as modified gowns that have patents through the FDA to address wire containment, but no design is attempting what we are with wireless technology. We moved into prototyping low fidelity products with bubble wrap, tape, string to represent different wires, ace bandages, paper clips, and real electrodes from the pediatrics department. It was interesting because I started prototyping with paper and the supplies mentioned, then found a CPR baby to test my sizing and it was completely askew! From prototyping I learned a lot about size, how wires will be thicker on one lateral end compared to the other, how a belt with fasteners may not be best but rather a stretchy material that can slide on and off, box placement for the wireless relay router, how the baby is going to interact with this wire containment idea, and specifically how it will coordinate with a pulse ox imitater. We are going to try prototyping on a larger scale to see what else we can learn, but my mind really benefited from designing on the CPR baby so I asked if our group could keep the baby for a while. It will most definitely be in our video final so get excited!
BME Design 