D2: Target Projects to Develop Accessible Medical Instrumentation
Coordinators: Molly Follette Story (D2.1), John Enderle (D2.2)Objective:
to develop modifications to existing medical instrumentation (including devices, fixtures, and information technologies) and/or new instrumentation in targeted areas
Target Population(s):
- (D2.1) Medical device designers and manufacturers
- (D2.2) Engineering and design students throughout the United States
Consumers
Based on the needs assessment of Research Program R1 and/or insights from usability analysis of Research Program R2, this program will develop modifications to existing medical instrumentation (including devices, fixtures, and information technologies) and/or new instrumentation in targeted areas.
Project D2.1: Development of New Medical Instrumentation.
This represents in-house projects to develop new instrumentation based on equipment that was identified in Program R1 as needed and analyzed for usability in Program R2.
An example is the master's thesis project by Elizabeth Omiatek at Marquette University, on evaluation of accessibility features of a novel cycle ergometer that includes use of the MU-Lab technology, which is expected to be defended in September or early October 2006.
Project D2.2: Annual Student Design Competition.
This is an annual multi-institution student design competition that solicits innovative approaches for making medical devices and/or their interfaces more accessible and usable. The last two competitions have averaged participation by over 20 design teams representing over 15 universities, coming mostly from biomedical engineering programs. As of the end of the Year 4 competition, over 300 students and over 25 faculty have participated in this activity. The ongoing Year 5 Competition, the last year under the current funding source, also involves over 20 teams.
See also the Year 5 (2007-2008) announcement, also available as pdf file.
Note: the Year 5 competition is being closed off at the end of December 2007, with 25 teams participating, with each of the 3 categories having 5-10 entries.
Archives: