Design Competition: Biomedical Solutions for Endocrine Related Disorders

Introduction: Endocrine disorders such as diabetes, thyroid disease, and hormonal imbalance are increasing in prevalence worldwide, driven by factors such as aging populations, lifestyle changes and environmental influences. The global incidence of endocrine-related disorders increased to 80 million in 2025, from 49 million in 1990. These disorders disrupt endocrine homeostasis, often leading to chronic health complications that require ongoing management. Many endocrine conditions develop gradually and can remain undetected until significant physiological disruption has occurred. As a result, there is a growing need for innovative biomedical solutions that enable early detection, continuous monitoring, and personalized intervention.

Specifications:

• 2 sensors/ actuators in total with one of them being custom (meaning not a off the shelf sensor/actuator we have used in the class)

• Wireless communication 

• Battery powered and rechargeable

• Wearable housing

• Software for acquiring, processing, and analyzing data

• BANS: NO FOREARM USE / PLACEMENT (BE CREATIVE!)

Task:

• Identify a clinical need and use it as a basis for your device design. Provide scientific evidence for this clinical need with appropriate papers and statistics from peer reviewed sources

• Test the device against the gold standard sensor in a trial on competition day

• Keep and update a Gantt chart with clear division of tasks and deadlines for task completion broken down by work hours

• Maintain a continuously updated Engineering Journal with date and time for every entry

  • Every entry needs goals for working session, result of the session, and tasks to be solved for next session

  • Each entry should be entered chronologically

  • Due at the end of the design competition

• Create a final presentation for the design competition

• Create a final report for design competition

Grading:

• Please refer to the rubric

Competition Categories (how we select a winner):

• Accuracy (relative to gold standard)

  • Sensors will be tested in clinical trials against gold standard devices from the UA Sensor Lab to measure performance.

  • Reserve your sensor of choice for competition day

    • Place the reservation by April 22 (preferrably in advance, first come first serve)

• Power Implementation

  • Sensors that incorporate low power functionality so that the device can last the longest without needing to be recharged in order to operate

  • Power consumption analysis during sensor activation and low power modes must be measured and used to calculate total time before recharge

• Best UI design

  • Sensors will be evaluated on how easily the user can interact with the device (LEDs, screens, apps etc) along with how meaningful the data is that's provided to the user on said UI

• Most Aesthetic and Creative Design (judged by BME 210 Students)

  • A 1 page marketing brochure pdf must be submitted before midnight Monday, April 20 which will be sent to BME 210 students to evaluate aesthetics of the wearable 

  • BME 210 students will Judge the aesthetics and creativity

  • Novelty:
    Rank boost will be provided for each of these item:
    - Design is not published in scientific literature
    - Design is not published in a patent

                    - Design is not published anywhere on the internet

• Best literature research and definition of clinical need

  • The justification for the clinical need in the device and presentation will be evaluated to determine which team did most thorough background research on their sensors. This will be judged via both your presentation and report by the teaching team. 

• Best presentation

  • Teams will be evaluated based on a clear, informative, engaging and well done presentation

• Best documentation

  • The engineering journal and Gantt Chart will be evaluated for completeness and detail. Engineering journal and Gantt Chart are due 1 day before the competition. To be submitted by May 4, 11:59 PM (Section 2), May 6, 11:59 PM(Section 1).

Misc Event Details:

• The final event (presentation of your results and the completion that measures one biomarker against a gold standard) will take place in the Sensors lab (https://sensorlab.arizona.edu/about-us/where-are-we-located). 

Please make sure that you book the tool of your choice for that day.

• Prizes will be handed out the day of the competition. 1st place will get a 5 pt grade boost, 2nd place will get 3 pt and the 3rd will get 1 pt.

All hardware must be returned on challenge day in the Salter lab. Failure to return hardware results in delayed grades for the team

2. Place