An Automated CPR Machine for Children

Technical Skills

<aside> 📌 Python

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<aside> 📌 Raspberry Pi

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<aside> 📌 Data Collection and Processing

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<aside> 📌 Research

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<aside> 📌 Technical Report Writing

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Interpersonal Skills

<aside> 📌 Innovation and Creativity

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<aside> 📌 Collaboration

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<aside> 📌 Time Management

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<aside> 📌 Project and Task Management

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<aside> 📌 Pitching and Presenting

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Project Summary

High-Level Overview

Design Project 3 was a highly open-ended project requiring creativity and innovation to design an accessible device that automates a common task for a self-selected demographic of people. This project also required the device to incorporate a mechanism for a mechanical output guided by the live collection of data through a sensor. I was responsible for programming the functionality of the device with one other member, while three other members were responsible for modeling the mechanism.

Target Demographic

<aside> 💼 As a team with CPR-certified individuals, we recognized a gap in the existing market of automated CPR devices. Specifically, there are no automated CPR devices suited to children, with varying chest depths. Many people claim to feel very uncomfortable about performing CPR on children, although performing it immediately is linked to a greater than doubling of the rate of survival of children experiencing cardiac arrest [source].

Given this unfortunate reality, we decided we wanted to create a device with multiple depth settings to perform CPR on children of varying chest sizes.

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Objectives

• The device should increase the patient’s chances of survival
• The device should perform resuscitation of a quality on par with or better than a human
• The device should be simple to operate and activate
• The device should be adaptable to children with diverse physical characteristics
• The device should be cheaper than similar products on the market

Constraints

• The device must be safe to operate and activate
• The device must deactivate when a pulse is detected (i.e. when it is not safe to continue resuscitating)
• The device must have a manual deactivation option
• The device must accommodate the anatomy of the patient based on age and size-related factors
• The device must not harm the patient such that the chances of survival are decreased

Functions

• Administers resuscitation
• Attempts to revive patient

The Design Process

Personal Mechanism Ideation

I suggested to the team that the simplest CPR mechanism would consist of a rod that lowers quickly before jolting back to its highest position and then sustains this motion indefinitely. I decided to write my research summary on possible mechanisms for this kind of reciprocating motion. My research led me to suggest the slider-crank mechanism depicted below, where the rotation of the flywheel is converted into reciprocating motion of the slider: