Pediatric Relaxation Machine

My team worked with a local hospital to build a machine that will help young patients quickly transition from energetic activities to more focused conversations. During the child's doctor appointment, the doctor will observe the patient move and play in a playroom then move onto speaking with the child and carrying a conversation. Our client, the doctor, saw most of the children had a hard time transitioning from playing to conversing. Our device is to calm the young patient and smoothen the transition between play and talk. It guides the child through a breathing exercise with the option of lights, vibrations, or both. 

This was a team client project focused on designing for a client with outside requirements and wants. We worked with a local hospital to build a machine that will help children calm down in a relatively quick manner. The overall design is a box with a hand shape, containing LED lights and vibrating components. As the child puts their hand on the given shape, they will trace their fingers, breathing in and out. There are cues on when to breathe in, given by the lights and vibrations. Since we know not every child age 4-10 is the same, there are ways to customize this to the child: the target rate at which they breathe and the methods used to convey the target breathing rate. Some children may be uncomfortable or scared of the lights and/or vibrations, so there are options to turn off one or the other. 

Our client was a pediatric physical therapist at a local hospital. When working with children, she often switches between very active and energetic activities and calmer conversations with the patient. She found it hard for children of a younger age to quickly transition from energetic to calming down and moving onto their next thing. My team was asked to create a product that will help children around the age 4-10 in this transition.

Because of remote working due to COVID, my team was never able to fully assemble the device or test our design with users. We were, however, able to fully design the product in CAD and electrical software.

• • • We made the exterior of our product compatible with hospital cleaning standards. It is completely acrylic and easily sanitizable, as opposed to cloth or other materials.

    • Compatible with the active ways of a young child

    • The machine itself is battery powered to adapt to the room it would be used in

    • The controls for the pediatrician are simple and minimal

Overall, this project was a great mix of practicing old and new skills. My favorite part was working with a client for the first time. 

In addition, I think the unpredictable circumstances due to a pandemic led to some lessons to be learned - both general advice and specific to the engineering field.