About the Project:

   This project was originally about designing a blue light system to treat jaundice in newborns that could be manufactured in Ghana. After looking deeper into the user's needs it was clear that the bigger need lies in the fact that most healthcare centers in Ghana do not have access to infant incubators which contributes to the high levels of neonatal mortality rates in the country. In order to fulfill this need the project was redefined to focus on the design and development of a fully functional infant incubator that could be manufactured in Ghana.

   The Blue Angels team is composed of 5 members, all with different backgrounds and specialties including Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Some of us had worked with medical devices before but none of us had worked with an incubator, so together we dove into research that involved talking to different experts in the field around the world, visiting a local NICU unit, doing online research on existing incubators, and working closely with our main project contact Dr. Okeyere-Frempong in order to understand the circumstances we were developing this incubator for. After understanding the purpose of an incubator and categorizing the features that modern devices have as essential or non essential, we began to put ideas together and turned some of them into prototypes. During this process we made sure to maintain constant communication with all the people involved with this project in Ghana including the manufacturer and other pediatricians and doctors. This was to make sure that the materials we planned to use would be locally available to them and that the user interfaces we create are similar to what they are used to.

   Upon receiving their feedback, we created a plan to build and test our final prototype. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 circumstances, we were unable to access the necessary resources and equipment to actually put it together. However, we have continued our work remotely and our final product is what you can find on this website. Hopefully in the future we will be able to see a full functional prototype made from the work we have put into it.