Technical Application's Market

 

Task One:

Identify two companies and one product produced by each company that directly relate to the NCT technical application your team has selected.

 

Respisense is a company makes a product called the Respisense BUZZ Infant Breathing Movement Baby Monitor. This is similar to our team's invention in that they both use monitoring technology and are able to alert the infant's caregiver if they detect that the infant may have stopped breathing.  The difference between their product and our product is that their product is a monitor attached to the baby’s diaper and detects a cessation in breathing from a lack in movement, whereas our product is a pacifier that detects a cessation in breathing from a lack of carbon dioxide output using a CO2 sensor.

 

SafeToSleep is a company that makes a product called the SafeToSleep Wi-Fi Sleep & Breathing Baby Monitor.  This is similar to our team’s invention in that they both use monitoring technology and are able to alert the infant’s caregiver if they detect that the infant may have stopped breathing.  The difference between their product and our product is that their product is a sleeping mat that tracks inhalation/exhalation movement, therefore detecting a cessation in breathing from a lack of movement, whereas our product is a pacifier that detects a cessation in breathing from a lack of carbon dioxide output using a CO2 sensor.

 

Task Two:

Identify one professional association or trade organization associated with the products your team identified. Include: its name, description of its mission, and number of people/companies involved.

 

Safe to Sleep is a professional association with a public education campaign whose mission is to advocate awareness for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). They are currently working with six collaborators and have eighteen partners.

 

Task Three:

Propose and describe a new product or new process based on your team's NCT technical application.

 

The new product that we would create based upon our team’s NCT technical application category Living Systems: Medical Devices, would be a pacifier that has a carbon dioxide sensor that detects carbon dioxide exhaled by the infant; if the infant were to stop breathing, the sensor would detect low levels of carbon dioxide, triggering the Bluetooth chip within the pacifier to signal to an external baby monitor to alert the parent of the situation so that they could check up on the baby and call for help if necessary.  This product is novel in its usage of a carbon dioxide sensor to detect if the baby is breathing, making for a much more precise monitoring process than a motion sensor.

 

Task Four:

Via the Internet, locate a company that might be able to manufacture your team’s proposed product. Send the company an e-mail asking that someone in the company evaluate the product your team proposed. Provide on your website the e-mail request you sent, the names of manufacturers to whom you sent the request and include any responses received.

 

[Correspondence between our group and the company Respisense is below]:

 

[Our group's email]:

 

From: Rachel Helgemoe

To: Respisense <info@infantrust.com>

Subject: ISTF Project & Product Inquiry

 

Hello, this is Rachel Helgemoe.  I am a high school senior working on a project called the ISTF, Internet Science and Technology Fair, put on by the University of Central Florida.  My group members and I would like to ask you to evaluate a medical product we have conceptualized.  Since your company manufactures the Respisense BUZZ Infant Breathing Movement Baby Monitor to prevent SIDS deaths, we believe that your company would be best able to provide comments on our product.  Our product is a pacifier with a carbon dioxide sensor to monitor infants’ exhalations and breathing; should there be a cessation in breathing, a Bluetooth monitor in the sensor would send a signal to alert the parent, using an external baby monitor, to check up on the baby and call for help if necessary.  The contents of the pacifier would be encased in a water-resistant mesh.  How would your company feel about the practicality and design of our product?

 

Sincerely,

Rachel Helgemoe

 

[The company's response]:

 

From: Respisense [mailto:info@infantrust.com]

To: Rachel Helgemoe

Subject: RE: ISTF Project & Product Inquiry

 

Dear Ms. Helgemoe,

 

Thank you for your interest in our product.  You can find more information on our website:
http://www.respisense.com/en/index.php
 

With regards to your product, we appreciate your concern over preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, as it is a condition that our company works tirelessly to prevent.  Your design is interesting, as it incorporates a gas sensor.  Something to consider would be how accurate that sensor is, as it has the potential to trigger false alarms if not properly calibrated.  Perhaps the pacifier itself could have an alarm built into it if space allows, since not all parents would be able to have the external monitor with them at all times.

 

Kind regards,

Respisense, Inc.

 

[Correspondence between our group and the company Safe to Sleep is below]:

 

[Our group's email]:

 

From: Rachel Helgemoe

To: Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign <NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov>

Subject: ISTF Project & Product Inquiry

 

Hello, this is Rachel Helgemoe.  I am a high school senior working on a project called the ISTF, Internet Science and Technology Fair, put on by the University of Central Florida.  My group members and I would like to ask you to evaluate a medical product we have conceptualized.  Since your company manufactures SafeToSleep Wi-Fi Sleep & Breathing Baby Monitor to prevent SIDS deaths, we believe that your company would be best able to provide comments on our product.  Our product is a pacifier with a carbon dioxide sensor to monitor infants’ exhalations and breathing; should there be a cessation in breathing, a Bluetooth monitor in the sensor would send a signal to alert the parent, using an external baby monitor, to check up on the baby and call for help if necessary.  The contents of the pacifier would be encased in a water-resistant mesh.  How would your company feel about the practicality and design of our product?

 

Sincerely,

Rachel Helgemoe

 

[The company's response]:

 

From: Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign [mailto: NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov]

To: Rachel Helgemoe

Subject: RE: ISTF Project & Product Inquiry

 

Hi Rachel,

 

Thank you for your email and interest in our public education campaign. 

 

The design of your product is ideal for portability, but it may be difficult to manufacture this product because of the need to keep the components inside safe from liquids.  Also, the infant may take the pacifier out or prefer not to wear the device at all sleeping times, so if you could design another product that had a carbon dioxide sensor in something other than a pacifier, that could resolve that aspect.

 

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email us back or refer to our website (https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sts/Pages/default.aspx). 

 

Sincerely, 

Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign