Using Robot Control Theory to Improve Prosthetics

A University of Texas at Dallas professor applied robot control theory to enable powered prosthetics to dynamically respond to the wearer’s environment and help amputees walk. As reported...

Transforming Healthcare with M2M and mHealth Technology

Modern mobile networks are ubiquitous and accessible virtually everywhere, from remote villages in Africa to deep inside warehouses and hospitals. This universal wireless coverage,...

Best-in-Class Technologies for High Performance, Compliant Mobile Medical Devices

Portable and wearable healthcare devices represent growing, high volume markets for the medtech industry. Patient monitors are evolving from stationary...

Form + Function: Interconnect Cable Assemblies for Ambulatory Monitoring

Building on the success of smartphones, mobile gadgets, and wearable sports fitness gear, the medical industry has steadily trended toward improved portability of...

Designing for Success with Molded Silicone Components

This article discusses ways to set up new projects for success and covers ideas for material selection, dimension and tolerance, and critical feature selection. Designing a silicone...

Pomegranate Inspires Battery Design

Researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has invented an electrode designed like a pomegranate with silicon nanoparticles clustered like...

When Nature Gives Up, Engineering Can Give Hearts a Hand

The human heart is more than a symbol of life, power, and reliability—it is a wonder of engineering achievement: a dual pump able to feed two different systems (pulmonary and...

Material Property Simulation Offers Longer-Lasting Spinal Disc Implants

One of the most promising surgical options for treating spinal injury and deterioration of spinal discs is the use of artificial discs to replace the patient’s natural...

Developing and Commercializing the First Robotic-Assisted System for the Catheterization Lab

The path to innovation is often long and full of challenges. For Corindus Vascular Robotics, the journey to develop the CorPath Vascular Robotic...

Creating a Cookbook of Alloys for Bone Implants

Researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, and their partners are building a database of new titanium alloys that, they say, will be used to reduce the stress that pins, plates,...

Safety and Human Factors Engineering in Medical Device Design

Medical devices manufactured today require significant attention to safety and human factors engineering that has not always been exercised in medical device design. IEC safety...

Medical Device Components 2.0: The Trend Towards a Healthier, PVC-Free Alternative

We’ve all learned in Wire & Cable 101 that poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) reigns supreme for its low cost, high temperature ranges, and multipurpose...

Creating a Healthier Future: 2013 Create the Future Design Contest Winners

Grand Prize Winner ChemoPatch Alydaar Rangwala, Nikhil Mehandru,
Aaron Perez, and Brandon Sim
Theratech, Loudonville, NY

Existing methods for...

Circuit Protection Critical to Safeguarding Both Medical Devices and Patients’ Health

A growing array of electronic devices are available to healthcare providers, patients, and their families, including glucose meters, blood pressure...

Tips for Selecting Insulating Materials for Medical Electronics

Insulating and jacketing material options for wire and cable are innumerable, even if the field is narrowed to those with some qualification for use in medical electronics....

FEM Simulation Speeds Analysis of Durability for Replacement Joints

The demand for joint replacement surgery is mushrooming and, along with it, the demand for replacement joints that endure longer with less maintenance.

Younger people...

DFx: Designing for Success

What is DFx? DFx is an acronym used often in reference to concepts or guidelines involving design for manufacturability, test, and production readiness. In the world of innovative and complex medical devices, DFx...

Creating 3D Shapes Using Hand Gestures

A new design tool that can interpret hand gestures, enables designers at Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, to create and modify three-dimensional shapes using only their hands as a "natural user...

Addressing Compliance Mandates with Product Lifecycle Management

Regulations from the FDA impact every step of the medical device lifecycle from properly classifying a device and developing a regulatory strategy, to preparing FDA...

Physician Uses Multiphysics Simulation to Improve Dialyzer Designs

Steven Conrad, MD, PhD, an emergency and critical care physician at Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, is not your typical physician. When he’s...

Electronic Access for Medical Equipment

The need for physical security in the health care industry is no longer limited to grounds, buildings, and rooms. Today, security must extend down to medical enclosures, including cabinets, dispensing...

Porcupine Quills Aid Device Design

Once a porcupine’s quill penetrates your skin, it’s very difficult to remove. That’s the inspiration behind research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital,...

Integrating Electrical Systems into 3D Mechanical Models

Product development teams are under increasing pressure to engineer more complex products that combine numerous electrical systems within a single design, including visual interfaces,...

Seeing the Light

Bionic Vision Australia
http://www.bionicvision.org.au

The main cause of inherited blindness is retinitis pigmentosa, which affects 1.5 million people worldwide and is characterized by the progressive loss of vision....

Project Aims to Improve upon Silicone Rubber Speech Valve

Morgan Technical Ceramics (MTC) (Cleveland, OH) worked with the UK-based University of Hull to develop a new valve used to restore vocal function for patients with throat cancer. The...

Benefits of Using Rigorously Tested Routines From Numerical Libraries

This technology helps technical application developers incorporate mathematical and statistical functionality in their applications, while providing the documentation...

The Automation of FDA Medical Device Design Controls

Every medical device company faces the challenge of navigating through the FDA’s mandatory regulations, and companies have different needs that change as they mature. Early-stage medical...

High-Accuracy Closed Loop Force Feedback

Hand-driven press assemblies, which require a specific amount of force applied for a given amount of time, present challenges when attempting to accurately measure or replicate results in production...

Matching Simulation Software Capabilities with Medical Design Needs

The product development process in the medical device field poses a demanding design environment for engineers and project managers. The design process often requires...