Introduction
There are many kinds of design approaches : « space designers » create new places to live in, « sound designers » create new experiences to hear, « food designers » create new tastes, « graphic designers » create new signs and symbols to see, and « digital designers » create new interfaces to navigate into the digital world.
iGEM Pasteur Paris team integrates industrial designers from ENSCI-Les Ateliers. Industrial design is a creative discipline that aims to produce innovative solutions in order to solve contemporary issues in various fields: health, well-being, energy, mobility, habitat, food, etc. When designing new products or services, designers apply a user-centric approach that integrates several notions such as usages, ergonomics, industrial processes, technologies, social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects. Taking into account all these parameters allows designers to conceive solutions that address the targeted issues in a relevant way and that benefit to the user.
Nowadays, industrial design is evolving. To address problems in a more and more complex and accurate way, industrial designers are getting closer to science by working with scientists and by settling in the labs. Our team is a good example of these new ways to co-create tomorrow’s innovations.
Despite promising opportunities offered by these new cooperations, designers and scientists do not have the same cultures, languages, tools, etc., that prevents these collaborations from reaching their full potential. To overcome these issues, we shared and thought design tools and methodologies with our teammates in order to build a common ground for understanding and co-creation. Once done, we followed the subsequent process :
Research Phase
Ideation Phase
Device and App Conception
Conceiving the device
We designed an ergonomic and functional device (Figure 6) to link the stump to a bionic prosthesis, composed of:
- a three parts plastic case made of light-weight, heat, and shock resistant injection moldable plastic (ABS - Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene), to safely enclose technical parts. Injection molding is a reliable process that permits a low-cost mass production. Two removable shells (1) surround the main structure (2) to facilitate maintenance. An elastomer seal (3) is placed between these parts and make the device waterproof. Moreover, plastic has been textured to make user’s daily interactions with his device easier
- an antibacterial ceramic shell (4), placed between the stump and the device, to improve hygiene and to protect the user from friction
- electronic parts, to amplify and process the signal (5), to charge the device (6, 7, 8), to store (9) and to send data (10).
Conceiving the charging / synchronization station
We designed an easy to use charging / synchronization station (Figure 7), composed of:
- a plastic case (1, 2) made of ABS, to safely enclose technical parts
- electronic parts, to charge the device thanks to induction (3) and a USB-C plug (4), to send and receive data via wifi and Bluetooth connection (5), to save data via a micro SD card (6), to demonstrate the charging and synchronization process via a LED ring (7)
- an elastic strip (8) placed at the back of the charging station, to store cables during transportation.
Conceiving the secured communication system between our device and the digital world
We designed an efficient system to allow our device to securely exchange data with the digital world. Integrated electronic parts and the designed digital architecture permit data from nerves signals, bionic prosthesis movements, and the user’s health status can be recorded, stored and exchanged. An online algorithm would learn from the user on a daily basis and improve future interactions. To do so, our communication system (Figure 8) is composed of:
- Bluetooth Low Energy, a very energy-efficient technology enabling heavy data transfer on short distances, to share daily stored data from the device to the charging station, and vice versa
- Wifi connection, to exchange those data with the distant secure NeuronArch servers, and vice versa.
Conceiving the app / website
Finally, we designed an app/website to create a user-friendly interface. This app/website allows every NeuronArch user to store, monitor, understand, and share with a doctor his personal data. To do so, our app / website (Figure 9) is composed of:
- a personal home page (1), to have a general overview regarding health data, charging level, and general notifications
- a personal dashboard (2), to monitor recorded health data such as glycemia, blood pressure, etc.
- a medical appointment booking platform (3), including registered primary doctor availabilities, prosthetists locations, etc.
- a unique QR code (4), to securely share recorded personal data with the user’s doctors during appointments.