Biomedical Engineering Device Development

Just as routine stress tests help us understand our own health, medical technology goes through its own set of trials to earn its place in a clinical setting. An MRI, for example, faces a battery of stress tests: steel balls dropped on heated surfaces to check for cracks, robotic arms repeatedly plugging and unplugging connectors to make sure all signals work properly, patient tables loaded with hundreds of kilograms to measure strength and endurance, vibrating floors to test precision and quality. Our factory teams scrutinize every detail – and imagine every scenario – to ensure the device will meet the daily demands of patient care in any kind of environment. Safety, reliability, and quality are non-negotiable. We must be absolutely confident that our systems will perform not only on day one, but also when faced with unexpected and urgent situations. This trust is more than a technical requirement – it’s fundamental to healthcare. When clinicians know their technology can handle challenges, they can fully focus on their patients and on delivering care with comfort and hope. For patients, this assurance means peace of mind and being able to focus on the truly important task at hand: healing.

Real-Time Heart Rate Monitoring Using Computer Vision & Signal Processing ❤️📊 I’ve been working on an exciting project that combines computer vision, signal processing, and real-time data analysis to estimate heart rate (BPM) from facial detection using a webcam. 🎥💡 How It Works: ✅ Face Detection: Using cvzone‘s FaceDetector, we accurately locate the user’s face in real-time. ✅ Color Magnification: A Gaussian Pyramid is applied to amplify subtle color changes caused by blood flow. ✅ Fourier Transform: We extract frequency components corresponding to pulse rate. ✅ Bandpass Filtering: Only relevant heart rate frequencies (1-2 Hz) are retained. ✅ Visualization: BPM values are plotted dynamically for real-time monitoring. Tech Stack: 🖥️ OpenCV | 🧠 cvzone | ⚡ NumPy | 🎛️ FFT | 📈 Signal Processing Key Learnings & Challenges: 🔹 Fine-tuning parameters like Gaussian levels & frequency range significantly impacts accuracy. 🔹 Efficient real-time processing is critical to avoid lag. 🔹 Signal noise handling is essential for reliable BPM estimation. 🚀 This technique has potential applications in health monitoring, fitness tracking, and remote diagnostics. Would love to hear your thoughts on its real-world applications! #MachineLearning #ComputerVision #HealthTech #SignalProcessing #OpenCV #Python #RealTimeAI #BPMDetection

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝟑𝐃 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. Instead of printing metal, a team of scientists in Switzerland grew it from a gel – and the result is 20x stronger than previous methods. Using a water-based hydrogel as a scaffold, researchers at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) created complex structures that can be infused with metal salts. After several rounds of soaking and heating, the gel vanishes – leaving behind dense, ultra-strong metal or ceramic. Traditional metal 3D printing often results in porous structures with serious shrinkage. This new method dramatically reduces those flaws, producing durable, precisely shaped components with only 20% shrinkage. It also opens the door to building with a wide range of materials – the same gel template can be used to grow iron, silver, copper, or even advanced composites. The technique could revolutionize how we make complex, high-performance parts for energy systems, biomedical devices, and next-gen electronics. It’s also a shift in mindset: rather than designing around the limits of printing materials, this approach lets researchers build first, and choose the material later. The team is already working on automating the process, aiming to bring this breakthrough into real-world manufacturing. Read the study "𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑙‐𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑡 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐿𝑜𝑤 𝑆ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑎 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛." 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠, 2025 https://lnkd.in/eian6kVx

🔥 Ethics in AI-enabled medical devices is not an abstract debate. It is governance by design. In AI-enabled medical mobile health devices, ethics constitutes a governance-by-design framework that structures system behaviour and user interaction in domains where legal boundaries are evolving, indeterminate, or insufficiently expressive of the principles they intend to uphold. ⚖️ Even where permissible boundaries are formally defined, they may fail to capture proportionality, fairness, or human impact in adaptive systems. Ethics therefore performs both a pre-regulatory and interpretive function — ensuring that device architecture reflects the spirit as well as the letter of the law. Regulatory silence does not diminish responsibility. Formal compliance does not exhaust it. 🔖 With that lens in mind, I highly recommend "Teaching AI Ethics: A Guide for Educators" by Leon Furze. It is a remarkably practical resource for anyone teaching — or trying to structure thinking around — AI ethics. The book explores key domains including: 🔹Bias 🔹Environment 🔹Truth 🔹Copyright 🔹Privacy 💎 Despite not in the narrower regulatory ethics sense, I found particularly interesting the chapters on social chatbots, power concentration and the hidden workforce. A few reflections particularly resonated: 1️⃣ Copyright We are no longer debating hypotheticals. The Stability AI vs Getty Images case showed how far legal clarity still has to go. Courts may rule that models do not “store” copyrighted works, yet broader consensus questions whether algorithmic weights encode protected material. Copyright is becoming a volatile and imperfect proxy for ethical compliance, especially in multimodal GenAI and mixed authorship contexts. 2️⃣ Privacy Privacy now extends well beyond consent mechanisms. Retroactive use of training data, bystander privacy, national sovereignty, and the tension between GDPR data minimisation and large-scale model training all expose ethical boundaries that law alone does not resolve. 3️⃣ Conversational interfaces In healthcare, conversational components and adaptive interfaces further complicate emotional and relational boundaries — even in certified medical devices where boundaries must be clear and respected. 4️⃣ Power & the hidden workforce Behind AI systems lies invisible labour and increasing concentration of power. The question of alternative development models that distribute capability and accountability more broadly is not theoretical — it is structural. What this guide does exceptionally well is move ethics beyond slogans and into structured inquiry. For those working in adaptive AI, medical devices, digital health governance, or standards development — it is an excellent teaching companion and a useful provocation. Ethics, properly understood, is not about slowing innovation. It is about stabilising it. 📌 We are working to solve in this space. #AIethics #DigitalHealth #MedicalDevices #Governance #AI #Standards

Our systematic review on the carbon footprints of medical devices is now out! Medical devices are estimated to contribute around 6-10% of national health system carbon footprints. In this review, we analysed 59 studies measuring the carbon footprints of 61 medical devices, mainly across surgical, endoscopic, and anaesthetic specialties. We identify three key findings. 1. Reusable devices are generally more carbon efficient than single-use alternatives. However, this advantage is not universal. In settings where reprocessing relies on fossil fuel-intensive energy grids, reusables can have higher footprints. 2. Carbon hotspots differ by device type. For single-use devices, emissions are dominated by production and manufacturing. For reusable devices, reprocessing (cleaning and sterilisation) is the main contributor. 3. We found variation in how carbon footprint methods are applied, often with limited transparency around data sources and assumptions. These findings support the preferential use of reusable devices where feasible, alongside efforts to decarbonise reprocessing systems. They also point to the need for more transparent and consistent carbon footprint methods, while recognising that any methodological standardisation must remain flexible and sensitive to local contexts. Importantly, growing interest in device carbon modelling should not delay action! Reducing the climate impact of medical devices requires action across the system: policymakers reforming regulation to enable safe reuse; manufacturers embedding circular design principles into products; healthcare facilities optimising reprocessing; and clinicians prioritising reusable options in practice. This is a call to action! https://lnkd.in/ebs-enee Sara Shaw Dr Stuart Faulkner Sanay Goyal Monika Chowaniec #sustainablehealthcare #climatechange #carbonfootprint #medicaldevices #circularity

Black Mother Turns Near-Death Childbirth Experience Into Life-Saving Tech Company Ariana McGee is the CEO of Navigate Maternity, a life saving Tech Company, but her journey did not begin in a boardroom. It began in a hospital bed, where she nearly lost her life while giving birth. During that terrifying moment, Ariana realized a hard truth many Black women already know the healthcare system often does not listen to their pain or take their concerns seriously. Instead of waiting for the system to change, Ariana decided to build a solution herself. Using her experience in medical sales, she founded Navigate Maternity, a tech company focused on protecting pregnant and postpartum women before complications turn deadly. Navigate Maternity created the first remote monitoring system designed specifically for maternity care. The device tracks important health signs like blood pressure and oxygen levels from a patient’s home. Doctors can see warning signs of serious conditions such as preeclampsia in real time, allowing them to act faster and save lives. Ariana also successfully navigated the FDA process to get this technology approved and into the hands of those who need it most. Her story is a powerful reminder that when our needs are ignored, we can create our own safety, protect our communities, and build a lasting legacy.

Wake-up call for biocompatibility: 10993-1 has moved ☕🐾 A new edition of ISO 10993-1 shifts the bar on biological evaluation planning, material information, and the link to risk management. Legacy “test lists” will not cut it. Reviewers will ask how your plan reflects the latest state of the art and why each test or justification is appropriate for your contact, duration, and materials. Practical steps to stay ahead: ↳ Run a line-by-line gap assessment from your current BEP/BER to the 2025 clauses. ↳ Refresh material characterization and chemical information. Pull supplier data and plan confirmatory work (-18, -17, -23 where relevant). ↳ Rebuild your biological evaluation plan from risk: contact type, duration, patient groups, and known hazards. ↳ Justify any reliance on historical data and define triggers for retesting. ↳ Update procedures so change control, PMS/PMCF, and CAPA feed the bio profile. ↳ Track harmonization and recognition: EN listing in the OJ and the FDA Recognized Standards list. Document the exact clause mapping and effective dates.

In my recent conversation with Vogue Business in China, we discussed our unique Design for #Sustainability approach at Logitech. We are making real progress in reducing our carbon footprint by integrating sustainability at the start of the design process. We carbon label all of our products, and for each of the 35-40 new products we launch every year, we assess their carbon footprint at the start of the process. That allows us to make smarter decisions about materials, manufacturing and logistics. Decisions that are better for our users, our business and the planet. As a result, 4 out of 5 of our products now use recycled plastics. The majority of our portfolio has transitioned to paper-based, FSC-certified packaging. We are increasingly using low-carbon aluminum and low-carbon printed circuit boards. And importantly, we prioritize Circular Design: choosing materials and components that are easier to separate, repair, and recycle. If you missed the full discussion I shared recently, catch a quick highlight below: Coco Yang, Amanda Glasgow, Elaine Laird, Malin L., Robert O'Mahony, Sènami Aklé, Yiling Pan, Maxime Marini

After a skiing accident left Rebecca Koltun paralyzed from the neck down, technology became her bridge back to independence. Today, she uses AI-enabled exoskeletons like ReWalk are giving her the chance to stand and take steps again. Inspiring? These systems combine robotics, sensors, and intelligent motion algorithms to adapt dynamically to each user’s posture and balance — learning how to move with them, not just for them. This is what true innovation looks like: where AI restores dignity, and robotics extend human potential. Rebecca’s journey is a reminder that AI’s most profound impact isn’t just in data centers or models — it’s in empowering people to reclaim their lives. #AIForGood #AssistiveTech #Inclusion #Robotics #HumanCenteredAI #Inspiration #Innovation