CAD model for the DU project
Academic Case Study // DU TSS Projects / Healthcare Technology

Diplôme universitaire.

A university diploma project track focused on technologies for healthcare: assistive systems, practical prototyping, and engineering applied to medical needs.

DU TSS Prototyping Healthcare Tech
Chapter 01 // TSS

Technologies au Service de la Santé

While I was at the Bordeaux Institute of Technology I had the chance to enroll in a secondary diploma that focused on health related technologies (DU Technologies au service de la santé). This project brief will outline parts of two semester long projects I took part in during my first BUT year.

I chose to enroll in this university diploma because they are featuring cross department projects, which means on top of my electronics curriculum I was able to learn some mechanical engineering with cinematic studies of systems and CAD design, heavier software oriented integration and a more in depth understanding of transducers and physical measurements.

TSS Healthcare tech Assistive systems CAD prototypes
Role

Electronic engineering student enrolled in a multi-disciplinary university diploma.

Constraint

Cross-department work mixing electronics, mechanical engineering, CAD, software integration, transducers, and physical measurements.

Result

Two semester-long projects: an articulated hand prosthesis and a water analysis tool fitted on a small boat.

Chapter 02

Articulated Prosthetic

The first semester project was the creation of an articulated hand prosthesis, we had to design the mechanical features of the hand, the software and hardware electronics control systems and, for our team, the remote controlled glove to drive the hand's movement. The format of the project was competition driven, similar to hackathons but on a smaller and a more guided scale.

I worked on the remote controlled protocol to allow communication between the glove and the hand, it was based off of two ESP32s talking over their native wifi protocol. I had to retrieve the data from the glove's sensors, package them in the right format and retrieve them on the other side to move the right fingers.

Unfortunately, we did not manage to produce a working prototype in time for the competition review, but our efforts were recognized.

CAD

Design the mechanical features of the articulated hand as part of the complete prosthesis project.

Kinematics

Connect the hand's movement to the remote controlled glove that drove the fingers.

Control

Use two ESP32s over their native WiFi protocol to communicate between the glove and the hand.

Chapter 03

Health Sea boat

For the second semester's project we had to invent a proof of concept for a device using transducers to produce a physical measurement, our team chose to create a water analysis tool fitted on a small boat.

The idea was that with a turbidity, TDS and GPS sensors we would be able to create a live time network to analyse water quality around the world in real time. The system could be easily fitted on monitoring boats to control oil spills damage or other natural disaster impacts on water quality.

I was tasked with creating the algorithm and interface to sample and showcase the measurements, I was also able to take part in the manufacture of the small boat my team mate designed.

Our team was composed of two electronics students, one mechanical engineering student and one physical measurement student. Together we were able to showcase a simple but effective idea with real world applications.

Form

Take part in the manufacture of the small boat designed by a teammate.

Use Case

Use turbidity, TDS, and GPS sensors to analyse water quality in real time.

Iteration

Create the algorithm and interface to sample and showcase the measurements.