Tag: #milestonelabs

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Nouvo

August of 2016 changed the lives of my closest friend Amaury Saulsberry, who I consider to be a brother of mine. He created Nouvo shortly after his younger brother was diagnosed with a severe case of GERD, commonly known as acid reflux. It took about four months for him and his family to get the proper diagnosis, and by the time they did 80 percent of his brothers esophagus was damaged.

This led to the beginning of Nouvo. Nouvo is a healthcare tech startup that has created a smart pacifier that monitors  pH and temperature levels in infants saliva as a biomarker for acid reflux. The scope of the technology goes beyond just that as this data of the child’s vitals could potentially pinpoint many other ailments. This smart pacifier is patent.

This is our smart pacifier and integrated app

Through the University wide resources Amaury and the team were able to get act on entrepreneurial endeavors. Course in TEC, BADM, ARTD, Engineering  and even attending workshop and office hours for EIR ( Entrepreneurs In Residence) at the Research Park helped Nouvo get started. We were able to create our first working prototype with resources and skills learned here at the university.

Even now we’re finding more and more helpful resources the university has to offer. We’ve been able to accelerate our rapid prototyping with the use of Fusion 360 and the maker lab 3D printers. We’ve also upped our fabrication by utilizing the tools at the FabLab. They have a wide range of filament options, laser cutters, and milling machines. We were actually able to use the milling and 3D printing at the FabLab for the circuit board that housed our prototype. These Helped us be one of the health marathon winners this year.

To date Nouvo now has a team of six. All of whom are fellow students ranging from engineering to industrial design backgrounds. The advisory board is comprised of doctors, an FDA lawyer, financial specialist, and much more.

  • Nouvo at TechNexus

  • Nouvo at Think Chicago Roadshow

Nouvo showcasing at EoH 2019

Currently Nouvo is awaiting patent acceptance and the FDA approval process. The product is considered to be a class II device and could take upwards 9 months. During this time we are working on developing our other connected health products. We are working on acquiring additional funding that will go towards perfecting our MVP.

Links to a few of our featured articles

IL Startup Nouvo Is Making a Smart Pacifier to Diagnose Sick Infants
2019 Health Make-a-thon

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2018-07-29/wired-amaury-saulsberry.html

https://foxillinois.com/news/local/startup-social-gives-sneak-peek-at-student-innovations


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Prototype Development

As the date of the Make-a-thon approaches, my team and I are trying to narrow down on our options for the prototype. With selecting one or two prototypes to continue as our objective of the week, we shared our ideas to Milestone Labs to receive their feedback. From the bridge-style and an armadillo-style to a molding idea, we had a wide range of ideas for the cover of the joystick for a power wheelchair. Although we liked the idea of providing a molding kit to the user so that the cover can be customized for the specific wheelchair along with the possibility of adding grooves for the grips or using different colors, we realized that this method is most likely out of our reach to achieve for the make-a-thon event. Therefore, we decided to continue with the prototypes that we can make further progress with.

During the discussion with Milestone Labs, we shared our findings on the market research and how the current joystick protectors on the market are ugly as seen below.

However, when we came up with other ideas with better designs, we discovered the challenge of making the product fit with different types of chairs in order to increase the user base. When we shared this problem with Milestone Labs, they told us to focus on our direct user, Ryan, first and see how it goes from there on.

After consulting with Milestone Labs, we came together as a team to have a discussion about our prototypes. Our original prototypes were made to protect the joystick itself, but after reviewing Ryan’s power chair, we decided that it would be important to also protect the screen and the buttons on the arm of the chair. Therefore, we developed an idea of a protective sleeve that would fit around the arm of the power chair tightly for the improved appearance compared to the ones in the market. The design is shown in the sketch below.

After the sketch, we discussed the potential materials that can be used for the product. There were many things we needed to consider, including:

  1. Is the material waterproof? Will it be able to withstand a lot of rain?
  2. Can it withstand a variety of weather conditions including but not limited to rain, snow, cold, humid, hot, and direct sunlight?
  3. Is it transparent so that the user can see the buttons and the screen through the cover?
  4. Is the material affordable?
  5. Is the material durable yet flexible enough that it can be molded around the joystick as well as the arm of the power chair?

Considering such questions, we developed a list of materials, which can be seen in the picture above on the top right corner of the whiteboard. We also discussed the mechanism for wrapping the sleeve around the arm of the chair, including buttons, zippers, and velcro. We talked about whether one method was easier to perform than the other as well as the effectiveness of it as both factors are crucial for the users.

Although we had many ideas before, we were unsure which route to take for the project. This week, we were able to narrow it down and come up with solid details for the product, so I am very happy with the progress that has been made. We are excited to get our hands on the materials and start working on the prototype. In the meantime, we are planning on meeting with Ryan again to measure dimensions of his chair as well as developing low-fidelity prototypes using papers and fabrics.

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All Final Checks Completed & Anticipation

PREPARATIONS & LOOKING AHEAD

We started this week’s class with Vishal reviewing the Make-a-thon schedule in case any of us were confused or missed the Pre-Night Event. Following that, he introduced us to Valeri, a representative from Social Innovation @ Illinois. Social Innovation @ Illinois is one of our Make-a-thon’s Gold Sponsors and is funding the appearance of our mentors from Milestone Labs during the weekend of the Make-a-thon event.

Valerie also spoke to us about an opportunity to continue our innovative ventures during school while gaining funding and several experts as resources: the iVenture Accelerator. iVenture is a start up incubator that takes the form of a 10 week internship over the summer and a seminar class for a full academic year that allows participants to further develop their startup. The Accelerator provides $10,000 of funding to the startups chosen as well as stipends for its members to stay on campus over the summer. Throughout the internship and the class portion of iVenture, supplies its entrepreneurs with funding, experts, networking opportunities, and more. My teammate, Trevor Sibby, actually went through the iVenture Accelerator with his startup, Nouvo, which I mentioned last week.

THE LAST CHECKPOINT

Once Valerie finished up her presentation, we had time to work in our teams while we, team by team, met with Milestone Labs for a final project update review and advice session. My team, Solestice, went first. During our review with Milestone, we talked through our new thinking for our prototype. While before, we were thinking of using metal spikes for the tread, we have since then moved onto the idea of using a type of material similar to what is used on winter car tires, which have incredible traction for driving on ice and snow, as the main component to our product. While we have also considered a couple other materials, such as a shape memory alloy, we will be meeting with a materials science professor soon to confirm which option would be the best to use for the Make-a-thon event. We had also considered a couple of other attachment methods aside from Velcro, such as snap buttons. Oded from Milestone actually shared a YouTube video with us which has given us another method to consider – one where the user can simply step into the tread. Milestone also pointed us in the direction of considering the whole experience of using the tread, including what happens if the user falls down, whether or not the user has to take the tread on/off when travelling outdoors/indoors, as well as a keeping in mind the wear and tear of shoes. Overall, it was a very productive and positive meeting.

Once we finished up talking to Milestone, Solestice moved onto brainstorming the types of materials we would need at the Makeathon in order to complete our prototypes. We found out that winter tires are made of a material called hydrophilic rubber, so we tried looking around for something similar. However, since none of us are science majors, we struggled a little with reading all the scientific chemical names thrown at us in our search. In the end, we decided to go with trying to use a bicycle tire as a similar material to the winter tire and explaining to the Make-a-thon judges what our ideal product would include. Next, we looked for sites where we can obtain Velcro, straps, and other methods of attaching the tread with the goal of testing these different methods during the Make-a-thon to see which is the easiest for the user to use.

We are all super excited and cannot wait for the Make-a-thon event we will be attending next weekend!

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FabLab 2.0

Inkscape vector file of watch to be laser cut

This week we returned to the FabLab. We continued to familiarize ourselves with all the tools and tech the lab has to offer. We specifically learned a vector editing software called Inkscape. Through this workshop we learned how to create basic shapes, manipulate them, and produce more. After learning the basics of the software we learned to transform images into vector graphics. These skills were then applied to a customized watch. The watch is a device that allows patients who have to do bicep curls and rotation in wrist during rehabilitation. The base of the watch consist of 3 wooden circles, two of which have rectangles on each side. I thought it would be help patients if the watch had small arrow indications of which way the device goes. The top layer rotates, so I designed an arrow pointing in the direction of proper rotation.

3 layered watch with electrical components

After this we moved into sewing. Unlike most of my peers I have experienced sewing. My sophomore year I sewed a jacket with a sleeping bag attachment completely from scratch. So during the tutorials and walkthroughs I was a couple steps ahead. We all picked the fabrics we wanted our wristband for the watch to be and then cut it to scale.  We sew it right sice in and sewed the seam. This created the sort of sack like appearance of the band. Getting it right side out was a hassle, it required us to use these thin wooden rods to pull the fabric through. We finished up by attaching velcro strips to the band to ensure a comfortable and secure fit to the wrist.

Images showcasing the process of sewing and creating the band for the watch

The second half of class each group presented to Milestone Labs and Adam Bleakney. We’ve made a lot of progress since last speaking with them. We got a lot of insight from this conversation. We realized we hadn’t thought everything thoroughly. Our design is solid but we have to really hone in on the attachment aspect of it. The overall ease of use should be convenient for the user. They also asked a lot of questions regarding materials of our device. We are currently scheduling a time to interview a material science professor here at the university. This week I have scheduled a virtual interview with my physical therapy. We also have a meeting this monday with my professor who handmakes shoes. We plan to do a bunch more research structured around our opportunity and project idea.

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Return to the Fab Lab: Week 8

Our time at the FabLab has been focused on making a cheap, interactive watch face that helps doctors measure whether outpatients have been completing their proper outpatient physical therapy sessions. Last week, I learned how to build the electronic circuit in the watch face. This week, it was our class section’s turn to learn how to laser print the watch face and sew the watch strap. After learning these tools, we met with Milestone Labs to receive feedback on our prototypes and then worked with Jenna to begin to design the second iteration of our prototypes.

Learning InkScape

Our first lesson was on the laser printing and etching software InkScape. We learned that InkScape has many different capabilities and we were able to play around with designing shapes and importing silhouettes from the internet. After we gained som familiarity with the tool, we were tasked with desiging an easy to use watch interface that would help user differentiate between the settings for both the “curl” and “twist” exercises. For my design, I decided to orient different arrows to show which way the watch face should be facing to correctly monitor each different exercize.

Sewing Refresher

The next portion of our class was focused on learning how to sew. When I was little my grandmother had taught me how to sew, but that was such a long time ago that I needed a refresher on how to work the machine. However, after a short tutorial, I was able to get up to speed and feel confident in my sewing abilities. One of my biggest takeaways was the improtance of backstitching. Backstitching is when you stitch backwards at the start of your stitch to reinforce the line so it doesn’t unravel overtime. At first, I made this mistake and needed to go back over my original stitch. Once we felt comfortable sewing we were given the assignment to make a watch strap. The watch strap had many steps, but are instructor Duncan did a great job leading our class through them and we all came out with acceptable watch straps by the end of class.

  • Initial Sewing Exercise
  • Fab Lab Sewing Machine

Milestone Midpoint

In our next portion of the class, my team met with representatives from Milestone Labs to discuss our progress so far. The designers at Milestone Labs were happy with our current progress but challenged us to get more user interviews from a wider variety of sources. They recommended interviewing veterans and elderly users and we have worked on contacting different users from these designations this week. They were also impressed with the prototypes we had made and gave a few suggestions, such as th BOA strap, on ways to improve our designs.

Testing and Iterating

Our next step was to meet with our mentor Jenna to test out the prototypes we had created on her prosthetic leg. After testing our prototypes, Jenna told us that while she liked the basic concept of our sleeve design, it would not work because the fabric might interfere with the walking mechanism at the back of her knee. This was an important discovery because it meant that we had to alter all of our prototypes to stay away from the back of the knee. To me, this was a big learning moment that reinforced the importance of prototype iterations and user-centered design. While our original prototype was good in theory it would have failed to meet Jenna’s specifications because we had overlooked an important aspect of its usability. After our talk with Jenna, our team brainstormed and came up with a new prototype idea that hooked on to the top of the knee and the back of her calf. We will work on prototyping this new design and get ready to show it to Jenna again this week!

  • Jenna tests our prototype
  • Sketch of the available surface to attach the cover
  • Fab Lab design that inspired our new prototype
  • An idea for our second round of prototyping
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Week 8 Reflection – Learning more tools and reflecting on the project

This week, we continued learning new tools and heard feedback from the Milestone Lab.

At the first half of the class, we focused on studying new skills. Similar to last week, the session was broken down into two groups, and we went to the section that we didn’t go to last time. In the beginning, we learned Inkscape, a software for creating and editing vector graphics. We studied how to create basic shapes and how to manipulate them to produce more shapes. We also practiced how to use existing pictures to transform into vector graphics. Then, we learned how to alter stroke and fill to differentiate the parts that we want to cut and the parts that we want to etch. After learning the skills, we applied them to design the customized watch. Because this watch would be for personal use to show caring and love, I chose to include a heart image to etch. In addition, since it would be relatively easy to confuse the top and the bottom, I decided to etch a letter B on the base. In my spare time, I went to the Fab lab and got the pieces laser cut.

Laser cutting
The watch

After the laser cutting lesson, we then worked on the sewing machine. This was the first time that I used a sewing machine, so the experience was new and unique for me. In the beginning, it was hard to even twine the thread following all the steps as well as threading. Gradually, after I practiced the basic one, I got more used to the speed of the sewing machine and the whole process. When I worked on the strip, I was able to finish it quickly.

The strip

In the future, I think the knowledge that I gained from those would be beneficial for our project since we are planning to do more prototyping to test the design. One useful resource I find online for more advanced skills for Inscape is at this link. It talks more about how to create different types of paths and how to alter paths. For instance, one can use “Ctrl + K” to combine paths to a compound. This technique can be useful if one wants to create holes in the design as well: by combining overlapping paths with fill, the overlapping area’s fill would disappear. I plan to explore more on this site to acquire more skills that are applicable to our project.

At the second half of the class, we presented to the Milestone Lab about our project progress and received insights from them. Up till now, we have decided on the area that we would like to focus on moving forward, but we were not sure how to approach the features that we wanted the product to be able to achieve. Thus, Milestone suggested us to consider the flexibility the users wanted and to consider the usage of the glove in the actual context. For instance, before the utensils get connected with the glove, where it needs to be placed so that the users can be able to put the glove on by themselves. Also, when the utensils get connected with the glove, how many degrees the users would want. All those are factors that we need to take into consideration in our design, and I think they are all excellent starting points.

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Fab Lab Round 2

Fabrication

We returned to the Fab Lab to continue learning about different types of fabrication! Last week, I created a circuit that made an LED light illuminate. This time, I had the opportunity to design the surface of a watch for outpatients who are required to perform exercises like bicep curls and twisting their wrist.

First prototype of the watch that will track movements during the patient’s rehabilitation exercises.

The watch is made of 3 pieces of wood. The top piece can spin by 90 degrees in order to detect the movements for the 2 different exercises. We were first tasked with designing the top of the watch, so users would know which way to spin the watch while performing each exercise. Utilizing the software program, Inkscape, I drew 1 arrow on the top of the watch along with the text, “TWIST,” and another arrow on the bottom of the watch with the text, “CURL.” Thus, the user would know which way to spin the watch when performing hand twists versus bicep curls.

Here you can see me practicing using Inkscape.

After designing the surface of the watch, we sewed straps for the watch. Using sewing machines, we first practiced on a sheet of fabric to get used to the machine. Once we got the hang of it, we began sewing the straps for our watches. We initially sewed the strap inside-out, then use a stick to help turn it right-side-out. Lastly, we sewed velcro onto the strap so the watch user can adjust it to the size of their wrist. You can see pictures of the process below!

  • Practicing sewing on a plain sheet of fabric.
  • Line we followed when sewing on the plain fabric.
  • Turning the strap right-side-out with the stick.
  • Learning to sew with classmates!

Project Progress

During the second half of class, each team took turns presenting our project to 2 of our mentors, Milestone Labs and Adam Bleakney. We shared the progress we have made since we first spoke with them. From our conversation, we realized that we need to narrow down our topic and start conducting more secondary research on what already exists for shoe treads and attachments. Also, it is necessary for us to speak more with Jenna, our user, about her desired experience with the tread, i.e. if she would need to sit down when taking the tread on and off. From here, we are going to conduct more secondary research and speak with a Materials Science professor, physical therapist, and a shoe maker so we can gain insight on where we would like to focus our project.

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Week 3: Exploring and Defining Opportunities

Pre Class

Week 3. This week to me is kind of mind-blowing. Starting from the pre-class readings, I started to feel regret of the previous group interview. With the time constraint, I did not get a chance to ask more in-depth questions as I would like to have a more in-depth understanding of the mentors’ experiences. I did not capture most of the things I see through photo during the site visit. Prior to reading the HCD reading, I did not notice the importance of capturing the things I see, hear, feel, smell and taste during the site visit. But I think there things that I did well from the previous week that allows me to define the opportunities from experts’ experiences, including listening patiently and taking good notes of mentors’ inspiring experiences that I heard. When there is a chance for us to have a more in-depth interview again with the expert who we are working with, I would start to apply the techniques I read from the reading to deepen my understanding of the situation and better define the opportunities available.

Milestone Labs Workshop

With the extreme weather of the past week, unfortunately, our face-to-face class time is canceled. Instead, we had an interesting online session. I really love how the consultants from the Milestone Labs guided us through the steps for design thinking to inspire us to get to our final opportunity statement. Starting with the discussion of the unmet social needs, I was shocked by how we, people, are so creative in overcoming the small problems that come into our lives and how simple the solution can be. Without complicated technology, each one of us can find a very simple solution to the challenges we faced during our daily lives. During the brainstorming session, I thought of something that I usually do when I am drinking hot water with a glass. I did not have any cup holders at home. When I wanted to drink hot water or tea, the cup got very hot. To solve this problem, I just grabbed a tissue to serve the purpose of a cup holder. The tissue absorbed some of the heat, so my hand did not get burned when I was holding the cup. I was so shocked when I thought of my real life example. I never realized, prior to this class session, that I was so creative in the way of making simple solutions to overcome my daily challenges.

After the brainstorming of unmet needs, we shared our desired mentors as a team. Before class, we were struggling in choosing a mentor and narrowing the opportunities down to one. During the presentation, we were inspired by the consultants from the Milestone Labs who seemed very excited about our idea of making a product that improves the balance of people with a prosthetic leg for recreational use, particularly in yoga, that can also expand to daily usage. Therefore, we went forward with defining this single opportunity. Going through the opportunity worksheet, we finally got to a single sentence opportunity statement:

To create an extension for prosthetic legs to increase balance, particularly in yoga.

Our idea of getting a surface area extension to help with balancing with the prosthetic leg is new that I did not find any related products online, but I found some benefits of doing yoga to people with prosthetic legs (you may click on this link to view more information regarding the benefits). With the benefits of yoga and our product to help make the more practices in yoga possible for people with prosthetic legs, we can encourage people with prosthetic legs to practice yoga and gain confidence in working out. I am excited with the opportunity we defined, and I hope to bring this idea to reality to encourage people with prosthetic legs to practice yoga and other excercises.

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Week 3 Reflection

This week we had one of the coldest days of my lifetime. We experienced the polar vortex. Temperature dropped so low that the Chancellor of the University canceled classes campus wide. Being the doers we are, the cold front didnt stop us from innovating. We held course digitally and got to get to know the creatives at Milestone Studios. They told us a bit about what they do. Each team was required to present the areas of opportunity gained from our mentors stories. Each team was given feedback and later went into an extensive  brainstorming session.

We broke into breakout sessions with the mentors we met the week prior. The task was to really hone in on the problem statements. We did this by completing the challenge sheet provided by Milestone studios. After this activity we had a clear vision of specified areas we’d like to innovate.

My team and I were very moved by Jenna’s story.  We really want our design to be driven by affordability and accessibility. We decided to move forward with the idea of designing a shoe tread that gives prosthetic users the ability to safely walk through snow, rain, and other inclimate settings. A tread for all terrain. Jenna stressed the complications of using her prosthetic even further. She was really behind our idea. The thought of a detachable thread for prothstetics could make all the difference for its users.  Our opportunity statement is: “To create detachable tread attachments that can be used to travel in a variety of terrains.” Our device won’t be limited to just snow but all inclusive for users to maneuver through sand, uneven ground, and pretty much any terrain as previously mentioned.

I personally feel that we can create rea value for people with this potential product. Nearly every single one us of have experienced the inconvenience of issues with daily mobility. We all face a multitude of difficulties that surprisingly could benefit from such a product like the one we are developing. We have to do more research on a few things, and possibly some case studies, but we are in a good place. We plan to meet and get a few concepts down on paper. We’re designing with the user in mind and at the forefront. In the weeks to come we’ll work towards having fidelity models ranging from low-high. I’m excited for the future potential applications of this device we are developing.

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Finding Challenges, Defining Opportunities

Though we faced freezing weather that blocked the class from meeting in person, it did not stop us from continuing to explore the inspirations that we encountered the past week. With the representatives of the Milestone Studio Labs on a video conference with the class, we continued to brainstorm as a team regarding several ideas that we thought would improve someone else’s quality of life. From the stories that our mentors shared, we realized the significance of affordability and accessibility, which is why we decided that those two factors will be the center of our design. Whatever it was that we were designing, we wanted to ensure that it would be accessible to the people who we were designing for.

With that in mind, my team and I came up with three ideas that we possibly would want to explore further throughout the semester:

  1. Snow/sand tracks for wheelchairs
  2. DIY wheelchair
  3. Shock-absorbing wheelchair

These ideas were inspired by the mentors and the stories that they shared last week. Although with their experience and knowledge, they are able to find ways to get around these problems, we wanted to make the process easier for them. As our professor emphasized, we were not trying to solve their problems. We wanted to help with improving the process and making it easier.

Example of a wheelchair sand track (source)
Example of a shock-absorbing wheelchair (source)

When we shared these ideas with the representatives of Milestone Studio Labs, they were very supportive, providing constructive feedbacks that raised our confidence. However, what I found to be even more helpful came after that. They pushed us, as a team, to identify an opportunity that we wanted to explore and design for. That is when I realized that without having a clear goal, the opportunity that we are pursuing after, we would not be able to design an effective product. I was ready to jump into designing a product when we haven’t even defined clearly the opportunity that we were hoping to address with the idea.

To identify an opportunity that we wanted to explore as a team, we went back to our core factors: accessibility and affordability. That is ultimately what we really wanted to provide for the people in need of a wheelchair. For this reason, we decided to explore the DIY wheelchair idea further. We wanted the users to be able to customize and replace the parts of a wheelchair as necessary. However, we also recognize the challenge with this idea. With the time and resources allotted to us, we probably will not be able to create a whole DIY wheelchair, which is why we are looking to begin with a part of a wheelchair that commonly requires a replacement. To identify such a part, we will need to do more research and talk with our mentors to gain an understanding, but now that we have the opportunity that we want to explore clearly defined, I am looking forward to where the design will lead to.