Microblow technology R&D

Tackling Disabilities & Social Care via Technology. Design & development.

Working with Conceptioneering Ltd, I helped design and develop enclosures & accessories for their assistive technology, prototype the LCD elements and design the UI. The microblow technology allows people with motor dsabilities to active technology by blowing into a transducer. The design challenges included designing a UI that allows someone to navigate through a keyboard, and menus to access activities etc.

Unit enclosures

As the enclosures will be used in environments where they can get wet or soiled, they need to have an easy wipe minimal design and are IP sealed. Designs were created in 3D CAD, then 3D printed. Electronics were prototyped along with the LCD screen. Code was written to display the correct UI depending on the event raised from the microblow interface.

Prototype 3D design & renders of the 3 main enclosures.

There were 2 main enclosures designed, the larger full system, and a smaller system that had a minimal UI but offered similar features. It is important to limit the amount of human interaction to get to a desired destination.

3D printed enclosure housing the prototype screen and electronics.

Transducers

One of the primary input devices is a microphone setup. These small transducers needed a design that provided illuminated feedback to show a valid trigger.

Transducer pod, showing parts for illumination.

An easy mounting mechanism was developed that allowed the transducers to be easily swapped if needed. The use of off the shelf jack plugs provided a solid positive locking mechanism & required no additional tooling or manufacture of bespoke parts.

Transducer pod, that can be attached to a variety of different mounts.

3D render showing the desk transducer mount option.

Many types of mount were designed so that the units can be used on a desk, bed or wheelchair. The way the units dock is via magnets. This not only provides a very easy to attach and remove mount, it also provides excellent electrical connectivity.

3D render showing the wheelchair mount option.

Interface UI Design

Design for the interface required an easy way for someone to navigate through many options using minimal triggers, such as blowing into a transducer. A grid approach was selected, as the destination to a required activity is shortened using an X,Y approach.

3D render showing the UI design scheme.

UI schemes for text input & menu navigation.

The UI was extensively tested on the prototype hardware for both sizes of devices.