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A pilot biomedical engineering course in rapid prototyping for mobile health
Summary
This course trained biomedical engineering students in rapid prototyping of mobile health devices. Students learned end-to-end design, from storyboarding to 3D printing and cloud programming, fostering innovation.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Device Design
- Health Technology Innovation
Background:
- Rapid prototyping of medical devices drives innovation.
- Biomedical engineering curricula can benefit from hands-on training.
- Mobile health (mHealth) devices offer new avenues for patient care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present the design and outcomes of a 16-week course on rapid prototyping of medically assistive mobile devices.
- To provide students with end-to-end training in the mobile health design process.
- To explore the use of open-source, cost-effective technologies in biomedical engineering education.
Main Methods:
- A 16-week semester-long course for 11 biomedical engineering students.
- Covered storyboarding, non-functional prototypes, integrated circuit programming, 3D modeling, and 3D printing.
- Included cloud computing database programming and patient engagement strategies using animated videos.
Main Results:
- Students gained practical experience in a comprehensive mobile health design process.
- Utilized open-source, hackable, and cost-effective technologies.
- Demonstrated the feasibility of integrating advanced prototyping and programming into engineering education.
Conclusions:
- Rapid prototyping courses effectively train biomedical engineers for medical device innovation.
- Open-source and cost-effective technologies are suitable for hands-on biomedical engineering training.
- This educational model fosters innovation and can be transferred to other departments.
