Group selection and assignments

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assignment for online contest

Commercial space flight isn't the luxury for billionares anymore. A roundtrip to moon and back becomes affordable for many persons, 10 space hotels are orbiting earth and interplanetary travel is on the brink of become real. Yet due to the increasing number of space tourists also medical emergencies increased in space - recently a space tourist even died, since he cannot receive treatment with a specialized medical device.

UN Space Regulation Agency and NASA are therefore demanding that tourist space ships and space complexes need to be equipped with a well defined set of materials and a small 3D-printer to create bio-artifical implants or external prothesis to safe passengers on board during this week trip through space.

SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and more than 10 other commercial space operators are therefore inviting start-ups and university teams to attend a contest "10 minutes, 10 millions" to find clever ideas what medical devices to solve the following medical emergencies:

• Information and measuring system for monitoring the biometric indicators of a passenger
• Device for measuring surface electromyography of the hand and stimulation muscle tention
• Automatic dispenser for drugs
• Exoskeleton for hurt elbow to allow the injured passenger to participate in the necessary routines.
• A device to guide a passanger with disabled vision through the space ship

A perliminary list of material is defined, yet you have the chance to place two extra specialized parts on the list. Mind that weight is crucial and small sized, leight parts are preferred and give extra points in the evaluation.

Your engagement!

“Medical emergency on the Flight to Mars”

10 astronauts are on their long journey to Mars. The international crew prepares for the last phase before entering the orbit of Mars. All are excited and it is plenty to do so no crew member can be missed in this important work. Suddenly there is a serious medical emergency on the space craft. The medical officer is able to diagnose the emergency, but can onyl stabilize the patient(s) and cannot help the patient(s) without a bio-artifical implant or external prothesis to safe the astronaut on board. The hole mission is at danger, since it cannot be completed without this crew member.

Due to the sparse materials available at the space ship, the SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) demands to call ground control for assistance. After waiting endless 32 endless minutes mission control informs the crew that they will setup an international team having to setup a bio-artificial implant or external prosthesis to safe the astronaut on board. Work needs to be done before the space craft enters the orbit, not to endanger the astronauts life and a safe arrival at Mars.

A few minutes later your telphone ring and you are linked to the team of experts. A list of materials which are on the space ship, amongst them some sensors and electronics as well as a 3D printer from the scientific experiments of the mission appears on your display.

Accept the challenge! Design a device with the available resources, write the code and create a 3D printed prototype to check the functionality on ground. If you succeed, the data will be immediately transmitted to the crew, which will immediately follow your design.

You have 4 days to complete this mission.

subtasks for groups

Automatic dispenser for drugs to cope with a virus spreading across the space ship

Dispite all medical checks before start austronauts suffer from a COVID-like desease and will not be able to descent to Mars if not cured properly. Doctors found out that a medicine on board can relieve symptoms but need to be given every 5 minutes in very small dosis. You need to design an automatic dispenser pumping the medicine in the cardio-vascular system depending on the body temperature of the astronaut. Design an automatic synringe set, a bracelet and a tool for remote supervison.

Exoskeleton for hurt elbow

During a shower of small astroids one particile hurt an astronaut during a repair work outside the space craft. The elbow got seriously hurt. Although healing an external support is required to allow the austronaut to perform his tasks when setting up the habitat on Mars. Build an exoskeleton supporting the elbow, which can be controlled by the muscle tension.

What are the limiting factors of your mission? (Requirements)

• The medical condition you need to solve is limiting the astronaut in his physical abilities. Many things can happend, e.g., one (or more) of the limbs/joints of the astronaut is impaired, the astronauts cardio-vascular system has problems or he needs an automatic suspension of medicine. For the Hackaton you can chose one disability for your creative solution!

• The implant/prosthesis needs to build with the materials available on board List of resources and manufacturing technologies

• An electronic sensor + controller needs be used to enable monitoring the functionality of the device or on patient data.

• Functionality is the primary goal, but also think about the astronaut to wear this device. I needs to be comfortable and also design should not be neglected. Do you want to be call a disgusting BORG or a cool looking superman? All disciplines need to work together to achieve a device that helps the astronaut and which is proudly worn by him. Your team therefore consists of experts from mechanical and electrical engineering, programming, medical experts and other specialities.