Team:UChile Biotec/Applied Design
APPLIED
DESIGN
Although our method for detecting the red tide was interesting and delivered positive results, it did not cover the problem in a real way. The biggest problem was the people who interacted directly with the products contaminated with toxins. In this case, the entities in charge of the inspection of the shellfish and the fishermen of the south of our country.
Because of this, we decided that it was necessary to devise a system that allowed us to take our project to our final users, leaving the laboratory environment and bringing science to people in a simple way by means of a practical design.
METHODOLOGY
We rely on the methodology of project development "Design Thinking", which in a first stage allowed us to empathize with people who were directly affected by the problem. Thanks to these instances and previous research we gathered valuable information. We also devised a basic prototype and tested its functionality with fishermen. Finally, we obtained the necessary requirements to ideate our final design. Next we will expose all the steps that we followed in order to obtain the final product.
DEFINITION OF USER
Who is the user?
Our system did not seek to replace the current methods of detection, which is why our solution would not be oriented to the inspectors. Having this in mind, we defined that our user is a fisherman from the south of Chile, either industrial or artisanal.
What does the user do?
The user cultivates and collects seafood as it’s work activity. The fisherman works all year long.
Which problems does the user face?
The user can not immediately identify if the extracted seafood is contaminated with a high concentration of toxins, therefore the user always has the risk of losing a large amount of collected resources.
Due to the restrictions of the institutions in charge of the control, if the extracted shellfish have toxins at a high level, they can not continue their work and they must discard everything they have collected and this has repercussions such as not being able to support their homes.
OBSERVATION DURING THE FIELD TRIP
An important decision we made in order to understand our user, was to make a trip to the south of Chile. We went to the Isla Grande de Chiloé which in 2016 suffered a strong crisis because of the red tide. In Chiloé we watched the fishermen work and even got on a boat with them.
At first, defining the project consisted in making a survey about the real problem of the red tide. To do this, we visited institutions related to its control and detection, such as the SEREMI of health, SERNAPESCA, Armada de Chile and LABTOX. These entities explained to us what their protocols were to manage cases of red tide and how fisheries in the sector were tested on a daily basis.
From the information obtained and considering the laboratory requirements, the proposal we finally made was a red tide detection KIT. We concluded that in order to make sampling efficient, it was necessary to have more than one accessory, which implied: a grinder, a bottle with buffer, a box with papers and instructions. In summary, the idea was for the fisherman to take a sample of shellfish, grind it with the device, use a buffer in the liquid obtained and test the sample with a paper. If the seafood was contaminated with red tide the paper would change its color to a dark turquoise tone. The fisherman would compare with a color palette that shows the amount of toxicity according to the color of the paper.
