Spring 2007 Incubator Project Summaries
DtM recruited seven student teams from MIT, RISD, Stanford University and Arizona State University to develop specific prototypes and to conduct market research for the Infant Incubator project. DtM’s design teams included: seven students and professors Sebastian Fixson and Matthew Kressy from MIT/RISD course 15.783j “Product Design and Development,” who developed a “works-like” prototype; four students and Professor Jan Klein from MIT Leaders for Manufacturing (LfM) “Tiger Team,” who researched market segmentation and product feature sets; thirteen students with professors James Patell, David Beach, and T.A. Sarah Stein Greenberg, from Stanford’s d.school course “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability,” who also worked on a number of “works-like” prototypes; and two mechanical engineering students with Professor Winslow Burleson, from Arizona State University, who worked on a temperature control system for the incubator.
Student teams were mentored by volunteers from IDEO members: Colleen Cotter, Mekayla Beaver, Kate Schreiber, Elizabeth Johansen, Yona Belfort, and Jeff Chapin. In addition to mentoring students, these volunteers helped synthesize field data, conducted U.S. based user research at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, and participated in the evaluation of student design concepts. DtM is very grateful for their services. Final prototypes were reviewed by domain experts from Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford University Hospital, and experts in engineering, design and manufacturing.
Below is a summary of student projects and their results:
MIT Leaders for Manufacturing “Tiger Team” – Market Research
The LfM team consisted of mid-career students with manufacturing and business backgrounds. The team included a pediatrician from Pakistan, a manufacturing engineer from India and two Sloan MBA students. Their market research suggested two key segments for incubator implementation: infant transport following at-home birth and infant care in a sub-district hospital. Specifically, they found that reliable incubators could save 670,000 lives in hospitals in India and, with a portable model, up to 1.06 million lives of those born at home.
Subhrangshu Datta presenting some of the team's research. Not pictured: Arlene Sargeant, Basmaa Ali and Marshall Einhorn.
MIT-RISD “Product Design and Development” course – “Neo.nurture”
This model was built to address “access” issues for doctors and caretakers who perform emergency and routine clinical care on at-risk newborns. The prototype includes a detachable bassinette, which can be held in a parent’s lap for direct interaction. Removed from the base, the bassinette can serve as a rocker on any flat surface. The top incorporates button closures, and a bacteria-resistant Tyvek® fabric that simulates a blanket covering for the infant and could reduce instances of over-bundling, which is a common problem in Nepal. The bassinette features a clever arrangement of ports and doors, providing doctors, nurses and parents with several access options while minimizing the exposure of the infant to the outside environment. An interior baffle system maintains isolation of the infant’s head in all but the most open configuration. Mattress tilt (necessary for relieving acid reflux in newborns) is achieved by shifting the bassinette between carved notches on the curved base. The interface and computer are a modular unit, and internal parts, such as heaters and fans, are off-the-shelf components to simplify maintenance. Since power outages are a common occurrence, a backup battery maintains power for the unit until hospital generators turn on.
In addition to the IDEO volunteers, Christian Diefenbach, Wade Brainerd contributed their professional expertise to assist with the circuit design of this project.
James Minola, Mike Hahn, Christine Winiarz and the PDD team presenting their incubator model at DtM Design Review. Not pictured: David Gandy, Sowmya Laxminarayanan, Andrew McInnes, and Michael Sable.
Stanford “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability” course – “Embrace”
The “Embrace” concept specifically targets midwives as users and addresses the problem of infant transportation. The basic design resembles a sleeping bag. Temperature is maintained by a pouch containing phase change material (PCM), placed in a compartment below the baby. It is embedded with a thermochromatic ink which changes color to indicate when the PCM is too cold or too warm. This device uses no electricity and has no moving parts.
Stanford students Linus Liang, Razmig Hovaghimian and Rahul Panicker with the Embrace prototype. Not pictured: Jane Chen.
Stanford “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability” course – “The Guts”
This is a simple $10 replacement for the most vital parts of an infant incubator: a heating element and temperature sensors for the temperature control system, and a fan and air filter for air quality and infection control. The device consists of a hairdryer heating coil and fan, which is inserted into a rugged Nalgene water bottle, along with an array of thermocouples connected to a controller circuit. The air inlet filter is cut from a standard, disposable, silver-impregnated surgical mask. The system can be used as a substitute for broken heating and filtration elements in existing incubators, which are often donated to hospitals in developing countries without spare parts. The low-cost design would also allow local craftspeople to build their own incubator boxes from locally available materials. This team consisted of: Alexander Butterwick, Nicholas Webb, Peter Rubin, and Lia Ramirez.
Stanford “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability” course – “mkat”
This portable incubator has a target price of $200. The design is intended to be mounted on a table, saving the materials cost of a base. The hand-access portals feature overlapping neoprene membranes which provide easy access to the child without exposing it to outside elements. The design also features wall panels of translucent plastic that can easily be removed for whole-body access to the child while providing excellent visibility when closed. The entire incubator lid is shaped like a cake box and is easily detachable from the base for emergency access. The housing is designed to be assembled from laser-cut flat stock, meaning that the incubator can be packaged flat for shipping.
Lia Ramirez and Alexander Butterwick with the mkat model. Not Pictured: Nicholas Webb and Peter Rubin.
Stanford “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability” course – “The Life Raft Incubator”
This device is a fully functioning incubator prototype that assists in thermo-regulation for a newborn child and is priced at $625. The “Life Raft” incubator is optimized for accessibility and ease of use. For example, the portals are sealed by a latch that can be opened by elbows, and the split canopy is designed to allow medics to access the upper or lower half of the baby, without exposing the whole baby to the open air. The bunting heating trap keeps the baby warm, while a safety strap secures him/her in place. On its base, the incubator has handles for easy transportability and an unambiguous digital display showing vital statistics such as temperature and humidity. This model is designed for easy assembly and repair as it has a detachable heated water bed, modular electronics (including the alarm signal) which can be swapped out if they break, and a cylindrical canopy that can be formed from a single sheet of plastic. To assist with thermo-regulation of the infant, the canopy consists of a double wall of plastic and there is a heated water bed that acts as thermal mass and provides heat backup in case of a power outage.
Stanford students Eric Bennett, Leslie Oestreicher, Yuval Grill and Nag Murty with the Liferaft prototype.
Arizona State University thesis project – “Temperature Control System”
The system consists of stationary thermistors, which are mounted to the exterior and interior of the incubator with a third mounted on a probe that is taped to the infant’s abdomen. These sensors are interpreted using an Arduino board, which serves as the platform for all of the sensors and controls that make up the basic operation of the incubator. The Arduino board is an inexpensive physical computing platform with its own programming environment. The existing system prototype is able to measure the resistance of one thermistor and convert this value to degrees Celsius. If this value is too low, an LED representing the heater is lit. If the value lies out of a safe range, either too high or too low, an alarm sounds. The existing system will easily incorporate two more thermistors, and heat transfer models and experimental results will be used to create a heating algorithm that takes into account all three measured temperatures.
Student, Josh Garrett working on thermo controls for incubator.
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