Weekly Reports

Week 30 (04/20/24 – 04/26/24): We gave our final in-class presentation and completed our poster for BME Day.
Week 29 (04/13/24 – 04/19/24): We completed our final report and presentation slides for the in-class presentation, and Kristina traveled to University of Michigan for the National Sling Health Demo Day.
Week 28 (04/06/24 – 04/12/24): We met with Dr. Peinan Zhao to receive validation feedback on our completed device, and performed our proposed verification tests and realized that the stiffness values were still not accurate. We noted this as we started our final report.
Week 27 (03/30/24 – 04/05/24): We tested the some hydrogels with known stiffnesses last Friday and got reported stiffness values close to but not exactly within the range so we are working on adjusting or replacing the linear actuator to one that is more precise in its displacement. We also networked at the BME lecture with Dr. England to find clinicians who would be willing to validate our device and emailed them to set up times for next week.
Week 26 (03/23/24 – 03/29/24): Kristina is giving the Design Review 4 presentation 03/28. Tista and Abir made hydrogels for verification tests that occurred 03/27. More verification tests will occur 03/29 since the hydrogels created were nonhomogenous, which created inconsistent force measurements when using the probe. Readings are reasonable overall.
Week 25 (03/16/24 – 03/22/24): We met with Rod and Erica 03/18 to discuss Demo Day. Kristina will travel with Erica to Demo Day and will take lead on editing the presentation from the Sling Health pitch with comments from the judges. We also met after the meeting to discuss the rest of the semester and distributed roles on who would take charge of specific tasks/assignments, and we plan to have a rough draft of the final report completed by 04/01 so we can focus on Sling Health. Verification/validation procedures will start next week.
Week 24 (03/09/24 – 03/15/24): The team did not meet this week as it was spring break.
Week 23 (03/02/24 – 03/08/24): We met with out client Erica who is pleased with the initial prototype and force detection capabilities of our device. She wants more focus to be placed on the user interface and its ability to report an interpretable stiffness measurement, which is where we will shift our focus to. We need to calibrate the voltage measurement axes to force with hydrogels of known stiffnesses, which is one of our verification tests. We also need to create a presentation for the final Design Review, DR4, of the Sling Health Competition.
Week 22 (02/24/24 – 03/01/24): Tista, Abir, and Kristina finished up the verification/validation report. Tista and Kristina found a 3D Model of the female reproductive system on GrabCAD and sent in a request for it to be 3D printed for validation testing. Tista and Kristina also made the Sling Health Demo Day slides and the one page handout for 02/25 and plan on recording and submitting the pitch on 03/03. Abir is finishing up the logo by 03/01, and it will be added to the slides and one page handout. Tista, Abir, and Kristina also met with Rod to go over GUI 02/26.
Week 21 (02/17/24 – 02/23/24): This week we’ve been primarily working on our V&V report, as well as getting our application for National demo day for the Sling Health Nationals. Tista and Abir tested out the gels that were done the previous week, and decide that the Agar would be the best material to use for testing.
Week 20 (02/10/24 – 02/16/24): We met with Erica and Rod on 02/12 to go over the software and circuitry of the first prototype. Tista and Abir made gels on 02/15 and will take force measurements of these gels using a larger indenter system in their lab so we can get some reference values of stiffness before testing the prototype.
Week 19 (02/03/24 – 02/09/24): This week we met with Erica and Rod (02/05) and touched base about Sling Health DR3. Abir researched and evaluated different materials’ elastic moduli to determine the most suitable one for use in phantoms for testing purposes. Tista and Kristina met with Dr. Rutz (02/06) to go over verification/validation report questions and started working on the report.
Week 18 (01/29/24 – 02/02/24) : We met this week to go over the necessary steps for the Sling Health Design Review 3 presentation, and Kristina and Tista created the slides for that which we will present on 2/8/24. We also discussed the generation of molds to make phantom cervixes out of hydrogels to test our device’s sensitivity for detecting of cervical insufficiency, and Abir will determine the proper gelatin hydrogel concentrations to pour into our molds in order to be able to test our device
Week 17 (01/22/24 – 01/26/24) : During this week, we were able to finalize our schedules and decided to have weekly meetings every Monday at 1 pm with our client Erica. We will work on our Sling Health slides that will be presented on the 1st February.
Week 13 (11/19/23 – 11/24/23) : We have not met yet this week, due to the holidays, but we intend on meeting on Sunday to go over a completed draft of our progress report and then send it to Dr. Klaesner and Dr. Rutz with questions for feedback. We will also aim to complete our Design Review 2 slides by next Wednesday, as well as our formal patent declaration (11/29/23) when we will meet with our client once more.
Week 12 (11/11/23-11/17/23): We met this week on 11/12 to review our design specifications to get feedback from our professors. Based on the feedback we received, we made some alterations to our needs statement and worked on our Pugh Chart at our weekly meeting on 11/15. We delegated tasks for Design Review 2 which will be on 12/07, and received a template from our client for the formal patent declaration we will need to complete before our progress report presentation. and then delegated sections of our upcoming progress report to each team member. Each team member will analyze 3 alternative solutions and compare them to our final proposed solution, and we aim to have a completed draft of our report by 11/26.
Week 11 (11/04/23-11/10/23): We met this week on 11/08 and went over the initial design for the prototype. Tista, Abir, and Kristina will meet on 11/12 to start compiling designs/descriptions and the Pugh Chart for previously brainstormed solution ideas. The goal is to have a rough draft of the progress report completed by 11/17. Design Review Day 2 is 11/16, so we are aiming to have a draft of the presentation completed by 11/11.
Week 10 (10/28/23-11/03/23): We met this week on 11/01/2023 and went through the comments that we received from judges during the Design Review Day 1 for Sling Health. We were also able to meet our coder Rod and went through design specifications as well as parts needed for the device in order to start prototyping. We are also looking at contacting more OB/GYN doctors to get more insights and information to evaluate the market that we are targeting.
Week 9 (10/21/23-10/27/23): We met this week on 10/23/23 to prepare our presentation for Design Review Day 1 and presented it for Sling Health on 10/26/23. The presentation included compiled information from our customer interviews and market analysis. The plan moving forward is to pivot to collecting a list of materials for our device and ordering those materials. We will then begin prototyping the device.
Week 8 (10/14/23-10/20/23): We met this week on 10/18 instead of 10/16 since Design Review Day 1 was pushed to 10/26. At this meeting, we went over what we learned from the market analysis conducted. Interviews with mothers, maternal-fetal subspecialists, nurses, and OBGYNs are going to continue into next week. Abir is going to reach out to Planned Parenthood to see if we can speak to a physician or nurse there. We also started working on our presentation for Design Review Day 1. The goal is to have the slides completed on 10/22 before our next team meeting on 10/23.
Week 7 (10/7/23 – 10/13/23): All team members are continuing to speak with OB/GYNs, practitioners, nurses, and mothers to gather market research before Design Review Day 1 (10/19). The team is aiming to be done with this initial phase of research by 10/15, and will meet 10/16 to help Erica (client and Sling Health leader) compile a presentation for Design Review Day 1
Week 6 (09/30/23 – 10/6/23): During the group meeting on 10/04/23, the team created a list of questions to ask nurses, practitioners, people who have given birth in the past, and OB/GYNs when conducting interviews to determine the market for the proposed device. The weekly goal is to begin emailing and scheduling interviews with OB/GYNs in the St. Louis region. Tista is going to set up interviews with OB/GYNs at Barnes Jewish, Kristina is going to set up interviews with OB/GYNs at SSM, and Abir is going to set up interviews with OBGYNs at SLU. All members are going to try to interview people we know who have given birth (e.g. moms, friends, other family members). The goal is to interview more than 15 people by Design Review Day 1 for Sling Health (10/19).
Week 5 (09/23/23 – 09/29/23): The team completed their tasks to finish the Preliminary Report by 09/29. Kristina researched existing solutions and updated the need statement and scope, Tista organized the key stakeholders and collected background information, and Abir created the Gantt Chart and updated the design specifications. Abir also met with Ashlyn to go over the in-class Preliminary Presentation next week (10/02). The team began the process of reaching out to OB/GYNs to discuss potential solutions and design requirements.
Week 4 (09/16/23 – 09/22/23): The team revised the initial project scope and design specifications according to feedback, and divided up sections for each member to work on for the upcoming Preliminary Report. The team also presented at Sling Health Problem Day with the client in order to find additional team members for the development of software and UIUX for the proposed device.
Week 3 (09/09/23 – 09/15/23): The team established the problem of focus and prepared a presentation for Sling Health Problem Day (09/20/23).
Weeks 1-2 (08/28/23 – 09/08/23): The team determined the field of interest for the project and determined a client from Sling Health (BME PhD Candidate Erica Marquez) to work with for the device