Weekly Status Update

1) What we planned to get done this week.

This week we wanted to put together a plan for the rest of the semester that would enable us to produce a working EKG that would be useful for a clinic in Nicaragua. Specifically, we wanted a timeline of achievable benchmarks, a detailed list of materials that we would need to order, and a short video demonstrating the function of the technology we are trying to build.

2) What we actually got done this week.

We were able to achieve all of our goals for this week by meeting during class, in D-Lab's room in E34 over the weekend, and constantly communicating electronically via email and online collaboration tools. Our demo video has been written, filmed, and posted on our blog. We put together a basic representation of what we want our ultimate project to look like and short script depicting a real world scenario where it might be used. We have researched several potential EKG designs and collected a parts list that will allow us to get started on building a functioning EKG. Our list includes quantities, prices, model numbers, and links to retailers that will sell these parts to our team. Finally, we have put together a timeline that we will use to guide our progress through the remainder of the semester. We were careful to make sure that we had achievable benchmarks at every step so that tangible goals could be met.

3) What we plan to get done this week.

This week, we would like to get started on our first functioning prototype of the EKG machine. Once our parts have come in, we'll start out with the basics to understand the core concepts behind such a device. For our first design, we will need to build a circuit, leads, and interface with computer software to produce a digital signal of the heart. Throughout this whole week, we will be continuing our research into innovative designs that build off the principles we have been taught in D-Lab Health.