BME 401
Senior Design Group 18
Project Scope:
The extensive effort required in current manual caliper tests on fingertip sensitivity casts a need for an automated device for occupational therapists, which allows for more efficient data collection and better understanding of the recovery of the patients with peripheral nerve injuries.
The device is proposed to automate the fingertip sensitivity tests by performing educated extrusions of uniform force, various inter-caliper distances and different angles on the patients’ fingertips and record their responses.
Design Features
The automated 2POD testing device is required to consistently impress the skin by 2mm at an array of pin widths ranging from 1mm to 15mm. The device should also be program compatible: It should be able to read commands from a constructed program that reasonably assigns the distance and angle of the next caliper trial according to the patient’s response in the last few previous trials.
Since our major targeting PNI patients are stroke patients, some of whom may not have full range of hand motion or positions, this device must also meet the requirements of being as small as possible in the finger testing area, as well as adjustable enough to accommodate fingers of all sizes. According to client’s need, the device does not have to be wireless, but the wiring and self-weight of the device should not interfere the patient’s fingertip sensation so as to avoid inaccuracy.
Lastly, the cost of the final product should be less than 100 dollars, which is significantly less than the cost of hiring occupational therapy assistants to manually perform these tests.
Gantt Chart
