We started off this week with lots of prototyping and testing our latest boxes. This week, we’ve officially transferred away from laser cut wooden boxes and started using exclusively 3D printed boxes to house our electronics and fiber optics. We’ve been through a number of iterations of the boxes so far, trying to focus on achieving a few key traits: securely holding the LED, photoresistor, and fiber optic in place, while making them relatively easy to remove and replace for testing. Below are all of the boxes and lids we ended up printing throughout the week, with the most recent iterations on the far left.
The final box design features two plates that screw together to hold the fiber optic in place, and a small circular hole that the LED or photoresistor sits in, with wires coming out the back of the box. The lids slide on to a rail on the base of the box, and have a small hole that the fiber optic passes through. On each end of the final box, there are hooks that the elastic and fabric belts attach to. It’s been a good week for learning engineering skills — I’ve gotten to learn a lot more about Solidworks and using the 3D printers! The final design for our boxes and the CAD file are pictured below:
The final box with fiber optic and LED in place
The Solidworks render
In addition, we did some more work on the code and display — we now have a fully working partograph LED display which can display contractions in 10 minute intervals, and
We’ve also been doing a good amount of testing how the light signal is affected by characteristics of the fiber optic cable. We spent much of the week testing different lengths and diameters of fiber optic to see which would be best for the final design. In addition to testing the Optoco, I’ve helped other teams test their final prototypes throughout the week. Tuesday morning I went to the pool with Swim Support to try out their device and give some feedback. I also got the chance to briefly test with Forearm Rotation team and take a survey for the Neonatal Temperature Monitor.
On Thursday, we went with Dr. Carns and Dr. Chauhan, an OBGYN, to observe a woman in labor and try and see how much the stomach stretches/expands when a contraction occurs. Ultimately, we discovered that there’s almost no measurable movement with contractions — mechanically, the current design of the Optoco just isn’t feasible. We discussed with Dr. Carns some possible alternative designs, and it looks like our code and display is still solid, so we’ll be working for the last week to brainstorm ways to redo the design before we hand it off to Dr. Carns at the end of the internship next week.