This smart ear inspection gadget uses AI to reduce diagnostic errors by 50%

Ear infections are the second most common illness to be diagnosed in children and also the one with a 50% error rate in diagnosis according to multiple studies including one from the Centre for Disease Control. Designer Joe Slatter wanted to do something to reduce the burden of The Global Burden of Diseases where ear infections rank 5th, so he created Oto!

Most ear examination tools have cameras but Oto, a conceptual medical device, comes with AI camera attachment that helps to minimize diagnostic errors. If the diagnosis is incorrect (something that happens often with ear infections) then the patient can develop antibody resistance when it’s not needed. Because of the AI support, healthcare professionals can record and upload media onto electronic health records. The AI diagnostic support provides precise readings and assists the doctor in getting more accurate results. The AI camera attachment encourages patient interaction while following social distance guidelines as much as possible. Oto features manual focus as well as automatic and comes with a charging base.

Oto doesn’t compromise on its form or function, it is ergonomic and capable of bettering the health diagnosis overall. “Low-fidelity models informed a form that provides a balance of comfort, control, and precision. Mid-fidelity prototypes refined the internal structures and mechanisms before producing an aesthetic model for further testing,” says the designer about the extensive prototyping process to get Oto’s form right. Apart from being one of the smartest medical ear examination devices, Oto is also the sleekest!

Designer: Joe Slatter

Fitbit fights the medical equipment crisis with a portable FDA approved ventilator!

The pandemic still plagues the world and the war is far from over. Medical equipment was in short supply even when we were in the beginning stages of this pandemic, so you can only imagine where we stand now. All brands from fashion to automotive have pitched in to do their bit – be it creating masks or portable ICU pods, it is an all-hands-on-deck time. Fitbit, a company that was already leading the game in monitoring body activity, has taken its tagline of ‘every beat counts’ to a whole new level by designing portable ventilators to fight the crisis.

The Fitbit ventilator is called Flow and has already received emergency clearance from the FDA which means they can start working on the production process. Be it a 3D printed ventilator or the one that costs $40,000, they have the same job – pump oxygen into the patient’s lungs and reduce the respiratory distress. Fitbit is a trusted personal gadget that we all use to monitor our health and wellness, so the team used their existing body sensors and put them to work in a product designed to function as a portable ventilator. The resuscitator bags that paramedics use is placed inside a clear case so the health professionals can monitor and operate it from a safe distance if needed.

Portability was key, the ventilator should have the ability to be placed anywhere and comes with a mobile stand to make it easier. It is more compact in terms of the physical form when compared to traditional ventilators which help in moving it around hospitals. Even though it functions as a ventilator, Fitbit is calling it as a life-support supplement till a commercial ventilator becomes available. While we all wait for hope in the form of a vaccine, it is important to acknowledge brands taking charge and buying us time until a cure comes around.

Designer: Fitbit

Lyft will deliver essential items for governments and businesses

To help meet an increased need for deliveries and provide its drivers with work, Lyft is launching a pilot program in which government agencies, nonprofits, businesses and healthcare organizations can request on-demand deliveries via Lyft drivers. Th...

Shipping containers repurposed into portable ICUs to help health professionals fight Covid-19

The world’s health systems are feeling immense pressure to catch up with Covid-19’s reach and speed. With over 400,000 worldwide cases (and still growing), the contagion is spreading so rapidly that health professionals are worried because facilities are already overflowing. We have already seen many countries like Italy, Spain, and China treating people in corridors, makeshift tents, and on streets by simply laying a sheet because beds are not available. The global community, from designers and startups to big fashion and alcohol brands, has been helping out by using all their resources to support the health system. Italian start-up Isinnova has 3D printed valves for ventilators, New York start-up Air Co. is making carbon-negative hand sanitizers to donate, Kering (Gucci’s parent company) and beer maker BrewDog have offered money and production lines to make items needed for the pandemic. The most important need of the hour, apart from the hope of a vaccine, are hospital beds and especially ICUs. The supply is nowhere close to the demand – the USA has 2.8 beds per 1000 people, while a country like India with a population of 1.3 billion only has 0.5 beds per 1000 people. Because there is no international standard for how many beds a country must have in hospitals, there is a huge disparity and despite Italy having 3.2 beds per 1000 people, which is more than India and the USA, it is still grappling with the reality of only treating those with a higher survival rate due to the lack of resources. These heroes are doing everything they can but due to the absence of adequate infrastructure, their efforts to contain the spread can quickly become futile if the space used is unhygienic, so Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota have come up with a solution – Intensive Critical Unit (ICU) pods made from shipping containers!

These ICU pods are called CURA (Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments) which means “cure” in Latin (doesn’t that make you feel a little better?) and these will help take some load off the hospitals, especially in Italy. Ratti’s Studio, Carlo Ratti Associati, and MIT’s Senseable City Lab are creating mobile field hospitals with these CURA Intensive Care pods that serve as a biocontainment unit for two patients at a time. “The aim is that they can be quickly deployed in cities around the world, promptly responding to the shortage of ICU space in hospitals and the spread of the disease,” explained the CURA team as they build the first prototype unit at a hospital in Milan. These units can be set up as fast as tents with the benefit of having hospital-level hygiene which will help contain the infection and especially help those suffering from acute respiratory problems as they need intense care. This will also ensure that the health professionals remain safe while treating the infected who will have a better chance at recovery in the biocontainment units. “Whatever the evolution of this pandemic, it is expected that more ICUs will be needed internationally in the next few months,” says a spokesperson from the CURA team.

The pods can be assembled and disassembled very quickly, and because it is a shipping container, it can be moved from epicenter to epicenter by road, rail, and ship, around the world to address the need for more ICUs. The units are designed in repurposed 6.1-meter-long (approximately 8 feet x 8.5 feet) shipping containers with a ventilation system that generates negative pressure inside – this prevents the contaminated air from escaping thus reducing the risk of infecting health professionals who are more vulnerable because of a shortage of protective gear. This is a common technique used in hospitals and laboratories and the designers have created CURA to comply with Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) standards. Each of the ICU pods will have all the medical equipment needed to support two coronavirus Covid-19 intensive-care patients at a time. The beautiful part about CURA is that it is modular – each pod could work as a stand-alone unit or multiple pods can be connected with an inflatable structure to create a bigger intensive care center. These were designed keeping in mind that they would be an expansion to existing hospitals by being set-up in their parking area but have the flexibility to be turned into a larger field hospital if needed. “CURA aims to improve the efficiency of existing solutions in the design of field hospitals, tailoring them to the current pandemic,” explained the team who are working hard to do their bit as non-health professionals in supporting those at the frontline of this outbreak.

While we can’t match the contribution of health professionals, the world needs every single person to play their part right now – designers, engineers, creative professionals, manufacturers, start-ups, brands are all called upon to offer any and every service they can to help ease the ache mankind is feeling. And if you don’t have anything to offer, you still have an equally powerful role to play in breaking the exponential transmission chain by simply staying indoors. Let’s flatten the curve, Avengers assemble…in your homes!

Designers: Carlo Ratti Associati with Italo Rota (Design and Innovation), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Design and Innovation), Humanitas Research Hospital (Medical Engineering), Policlinico di Milano (Medical Consultancy), Jacobs (Alberto Riva – Master Planning, design, construction and logistics support services), Studio FM Milano (Visual identity & graphic design), Squint/Opera (Digital media), Alex Neame of Team Rubicon UK (Logistics), Ivan Pavanello of Projema (MEP Engineering), Dr. Maurizio Lanfranco of Ospedale Cottolengo (Medical Consultancy).