Overview:
As part of TU DelftCritical alarms lab’s silent ICU project, Ultimo is developed as a smart ICU monitoring system. It aims to create a calm place for patients to recover in the intensive care, allows visitors to feel less anxious about their loved ones and improves clinicians work environment. The UltiMo adjusts the patient monitor display and alarms inside each patient room based on who is in the room. The final outcome is presented in Dutch Design Week 2018.
Project Type & Involvement:
Work for Critical Alarm Lab of TU Delft & Erasmus Medical Center
Research & Technology
Timeline
2018.03 - 2018.10
My Role:
Working with the other 6 designers in the team, I am involved with this project from scratch to final launch in Dutch Design Week. My prior responsibility was experience mapping, user testing, aesthetic design, 3D modelling, prototyping and user interface design.
Project Video
Reflections:
In this project we were able to manage multiple tasks at the same time. During our project we spend a lot of time diverging, researching various detection methods. In the first quarter, a lot of time was spend researching different areas. The outcomes of the first quarter resulted in a good foundation on which the system could be designed.
Furthermore, during our project we developed more than the initial system that was the goal. Alongside the development of the system a new design vision for the patient monitor was developed. Not only represents the new monitor the innovation and calmness the UltiMo aims to bring, it is also designed in they same styles as the beacons and camera.
In the main project the context research helped me a lot to get more knowledge about medical environment and understand the key points and restrictions when working in medical area. The other takeaway from this project is technical knowledge. By doing sensor research, working on bluetooth connection with raspberry pi, and being evolved in the system building process, it was a great journey of 'design for technologies'.
Other Discussions:
During the prototyping of the system, we concluded that the python coding would not be as simple as we thought. It became clear that to make a properly working system that is reliable, coding expertise about image recognition was necessary. With the help of a coder friends and a freelancer we were able to develop a prototype that was still fairly accurate. Not nearly accurate enough to place in a hospital, but accurate enough for a working prototype.
Lastly, we aimed to design a the new visitor mode the UltiMo introduces. This proved to be a difficult subject that requires a project of its own. Nevertheless did we develop a starting point for this project and was a design for the visitor mode developed according to the results from the user test.
Lastly, we aimed to design a the new visitor mode the UltiMo introduces. This proved to be a difficult subject that requires a project of its own. Nevertheless did we develop a starting point for this project and was a design for the visitor mode developed according to the results from the user test.
For Dutch Design Week the prototype used RFID to showcase to audiences since the image recognition system was not build for open space. This project is still ongoing in Critical Alarm Lab of TU Delft, hope the system in the future can be brought to a medical level and make real impact on patients and clinicians. Fingers crossed!
