Manufacturing & Prototyping

Promising news for millions of Americans living with type 1 diabetes: The FDA has issued guidelines specific to developing an artificial pancreas — a system that would serve to continuously monitor blood glucose levels and deliver the correct amount of insulin to the body when needed, functioning...

3D printers have the potential to quickly produce complex structures and materials — including bone scaffolds, if Washington State University scientists have their way. An interdisciplinary team of chemistry, materials science, biology, and manufacturing researchers produced a bone-like material using a 3D printer.

Medical device manufacturers that collect and analyze patient data are developing innovative ways to integrate electronics and wireless technology into their products. These innovations often present new design and production challenges. That was the case for American TeleCare Inc. (Eden Prairie,...

According to an interview published in MIT Sloan Management Review, innovation expert Eric von Hippel argues that product innovation comes, fundamentally, from users who improvise and improve upon existing products — not companies that manufacture those technologies. It may be the case...

The Tacit, a haptic sonar glove that helps a visually impaired person navigate complex environments, has been released as a public prototype. The invention uses ultrasonic sensors to sense objects from about 1 inch to 10 feet away, and translates that information into pressure on the user's wrist.

An article from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society calls attention to a recent study published in Ergonomics in Design, "Using Storytelling to Elicit Design Guidance for Medical Devices." In the study, human factors/ergonomics researchers evaluated the use of storytelling as a qualitative research...