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Prosmate - Rehabilitating Prostate Cancer Patients

Callum Beal
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Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Prosmate 
2021-2022

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Industrial Design
User Centred Design
Consumer Healthcare
Final Year Major Project
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Helping Rehabilitate Prostate Cancer Patients Following Radical Prostatectomy 

Prostate cancer is a heavily stigmatised disease affecting 1 in 8 men during their lifetime. A common treatment plan following diagnosis is radical or partial prostatectomy, which involves highly invasive surgery to remove the whole or part of the prostate. Whilst in the short term the removal of the cancer may seem great solution, there is a significant drop in the quality of life following the surgery. Patients are often left with side effects such as incontinence and erectile disfunction ranging in severity and recovery time, which is where lies part of the problem. Patients can take anywhere between 6-18 months to recover with some never fully gaining control again.

So why is the recovery window so vast?

Through speaking to specialist nurses, patients, surgeons and analysing existing support materials it became apparent there were issues surrounding patients recovery. The main issues appeared surrounding patient engagement and adherence to Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises (PFME). When speaking to patients there was a large misunderstanding about the PFME exercises and how they were supposed to be carried out, patients are often left with a simple piece of paper and told to go away and do the exercises based of feel. However, the pelvic floor is a deeply imbedded muscle group and users cant asses how well they are doing the exercise by looking in the mirror. The lack of feedback leads to incorrect form, which impedes the effectiveness of the exercise and in turn leads to user frustration and poor adherence consequently widening there recovery period.   
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Moodboard / Universally Approachable 
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Iterative Prototyping

Iterative prototyping was used throughout the development to craft the device form. Utilised to test and evaluate the impact of design changes on the devices user interaction, the empathetic form factor and the housing of the internal architecture required to deliver the function.
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Prosmate uses non invasive electro surface myograph (EMG), to monitor the electrical activity of the pelvic floor and provide users with real time visual feedback so they can correct and adjust their form. This is all packaged in an experience which seamlessly fits into users daily routine in an effort to better user adherence to PFME's, as users need to undertake these exercises 2-3 a day for 3-5 minutes to better their recovery.
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Device Use​​​​​​​
1) User Charges their phone at night.
2) in the morning they start their routine by removing their charged phone from the device. 
3) Users then remove the EMG sensor from its device home. 
4) Users then adjust the display to an angle which is comfortable for them. 
5) Users place the Sensor on the abdomen or the lower back, using the adhesive pad. 
6) Users then see the display come to life which guides them through their quick morning Pelvic floor exercise. 
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Internal Configuration

The tower stack contains mains Usb-c at the bottom of the stack as well as a counter weight. The middle of the stack houses a M4 arm cortex microcontroller, responsible for the processing of the mixed signal data gathered from the EMG sensor. The Tower stack also houses a cooling fan above the microcontroller drawing the hot air out of the tower stack out through the cooling vent at the top of the tower. The top dish sub assembly comprises of the outer ABS casing which comes apart in 3 pieces to facilitate product assembly. Internally the top dish houses a shine through display on a locally thinned surface of the top face. It also houses two QI wireless charges one for the users devices and one for the EMG sensor. The second QI wireless charger is also integrated into a subassembly which enables the Lidar Camera to look through the centre of the Qi coil, to maximise proximity to the charging coils. The Top dish also has an easily accessible but hidden switch on the back so users can turn the device off when not in use. The Emg Sensor contains a lithium iron battery mounted onto a pcb alongside a low power Bluetooth chip that feeds the data from the sEMG sensor back to the tower stack for processing.
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Looks Like Prototype 

Material / PLA  
Manufacturing technique / FDM printed, Sanded, Filler primed, Sanded, Sprayed then Lacquered 
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Consumer healthcare prostate cancer Render User Centered Design visualization brand identity design
Prosmate - Rehabilitating Prostate Cancer Patients
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London, United Kingdom

Prosmate - Rehabilitating Prostate Cancer Patients

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