• Question: have you ever made a piece of technology

    Asked by can cat to Ted, S. S., Laura, Kevin, Ellen, Andrea on 8 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Kevin OBrien

      Kevin OBrien answered on 8 Mar 2019: last edited 8 Mar 2019 7:23 pm

      Yes, making pieces of technology is a large part of being an engineer.
      I’ve made neuro muscular electrical stimulators, power controller chips for computers, and infusion pumps.
      I was involved in the manufacture of implanted pacemakers, defibrillators, spinal cord stimulators (for treating chronic pain) and deep brain stimulators (for treating Parkinson’s disease and tremor).
      I’ve had an interesting career, and I feel I’m only just getting started.

    • Photo: Ted Burke

      Ted Burke answered on 9 Mar 2019:

      Yes, I build little things all the time. Most of the things I build are what we call “embedded systems” – basically, a device with some electronics and a really simple computer controlling it (what we call a microcontroller). They do all kinds of things: robotics, measurement systems, bioelectric signal amplifiers, whatever…

    • Photo: Andrea Pacheco

      Andrea Pacheco answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      I helped my research group back in Colombia to build a corneal topographer. In this device we turn on a special lamp close to the eye, then we record the image on your eye surface and then can do some calculations to find the shape of the cornea. This gives information about some visual issues as astigmatism, keratocono, etc

    • Photo: Laura Farina

      Laura Farina answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      yes, I made a simple really small device to trap and move blood drops! The diameter of the ring traps was smaller than 1 mm!

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