This image WAS NOT created by @Nike, @Underarmor, @WHOOP or @GlaxoSmithKline. It was created by high school students over a 2-week course in medical device design at Hardware Park in Birmingham, Alabama. This course experience is now being made into a documentary.
At this very moment, the United States, with all its internal challenges, seems determined to rally together and pursue innovation. We all recognize the need to create advanced technologies for needed solutions at home and increased global competitiveness abroad.
I recently experienced an event that gives me great hope. While I love to study breakthroughs in science and technology, this event was foundational. Noam Chomsky, in a recent interview about how to navigate the complexities of modern media, said, “Listen to the young people. Listen to what they are saying is important and how to fix things, not to me.” Here is a summary of the event.
“Listen to the young people. Listen to what they are saying is important and how to fix things, not to me.” - Noam Chomsky
Over the past 2 weeks, I was fortunate to be involved in a MedTech Design Experience for local high school students. 8 students were selected by their STEM teachers from schools around the Birmingham metro area. All were rising juniors through recent graduates with an interest in design and engineering, and a shared ability to impress their teachers. We formed 2 teams and asked them to design their own medical devices.
I was part of a small group of teachers, engineers and designers who taught them our own best design and engineering practices. The students used this knowledge to do the work. They proceeded through 4 stages - criteria definition, concept development, prototyping/concept refinement and design for presentation, with the final design due in 10 working days.
What they accomplished far exceeded everyone’s expectations. They researched, benchmarked and went through extensive prototyping to design a sports inhaler for athletes needing medication with them at all times (eg. asthma inhalers).
They studied pill boxes and pivoted to create a new generation of easily adjustable crutches that could even go up stairs. And in their “spare” time, they created their own passion projects ranging from an IV pole design that kids would actually want to have in their room, to rebuilding a band major’s baton, to designing improved air bags.
The design you see here for this sports inhaler was created by students. Our advisory team helped with some final tweaking on renderings using professional-level tools including @onshape, @keyshot and @midjourney (to model the lone runner in the woods), but everything else from the precise form, function, UI and branding ideas, is the student’s own, extremely thoughtful design work.
They managed their time, formed teams, did the research, delegated tasks, and figured it out. Their only resources were rolls of drawing paper, pencils, their own computers, salvaged crutches, bicycle and office chair parts, cardboard, duct tape, baling wire and a few hand tools. They chose each project leveraging personal needs and insights, and used their new knowledge of best-practices design process to work out the solutions.
While most people have heard of MIT’s Media Lab, not many are aware of the emerging medical-centric initiative, centered around UAB and SR (Southern Research) as 2 leading national entities contributing to advanced research in medicine and pharma in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hardware Park is now seeking to leverage our State’s legacy of manufacturing, restarted by Mercedes Benz and other local automotive companies, with one of the largest medical research centers in the country to create advanced best practices models for medical device development. The Rampart radiation shield is one of the latest examples, designed and made in Alabama and now sold in over 50 countries.
While we each do our best to utilize the resources around us, we all realize our country’s greatest assets come from nurturing our bright young minds. To watch what these 8 students were able to accomplish provides an incredible source of hope for us all.
Stay tuned for the upcoming documentary.