Med-Tech Innovation University News
NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITIES Scotland hosts the Robotarium
Computing scientists from the University of Edinburgh are joining forces with experts at Heriot-Watt in a £6 million research centre. Known as the Edinburgh Robotics and Autonomous Systems Interaction Research Facility, or the Robotarium, the centre will house humanoid robots, immersive and sensorised workspaces, co-worker robots and facilities for prosthetics research and testing. Experts at Edinburgh will focus on robot–robot interactions, and Heriot-Watt scientists will target interactions between humans, robots and autonomous systems. Professor David Lane from Heriot-Watt said, “This funding will enable us to develop a world-leading research base in robotics and autonomous systems, which is estimated as a new €15.5 billion global market ... Autonomous robots could be deployed into elderly people’s homes to assist users in their everyday tasks, for example. Also, we’ll advance the capabilities of prosthetic limbs. With our partners from the University of Edinburgh, we will draw on the expertise of over 50 investigators working in 16 research groups and institutes co-located in the city, making the capital a global leader in the field.”
www.ed.ac.uk
Pioneering work at Huddersfield
A University of Huddersfield scientist is playing an important role in the development of a material that can repair failing cartilages in the knee and other joints before full joint replacement is required. The substance known as FibroFix Composite, which can be used to make small devices that repair damaged cartilage, is based on the protein fibre emitted by silkworms. It was developed by Oxford- based scientists, who formed the company Orthox to develop the concept. Dr Leigh Fleming of Huddersfield’s EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology has been tasked with
characterising the surfaces of the devices. To act as an effective, wear- resistant bearing in the knee joint, the FibroFix devices must have a surface texture that is precisely fit for purpose. Dr Fleming will employ atomic force microscopy and optical interferometry to measure the composite material at nanometre level. She will furnish her partners in the project, based at Oxford and Cardiff universities, with data that will act as a tool to enable the manufacture of the devices to be optimised and for their quality to be rigorously checked.
www.hud.ac.uk
06 ¦ September/October 2013
The result of separate work led to Dr David Swann, Reader in Design at Huddersfield being shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award in the 2013 INDEX: Design to Improve Life Awards. Unsafe needle injections cause an estimated 1.3 million early deaths and US$535 million in medical costs. Dr Swann invented a syringe that provides a 60 second treatment window before turning an irreversible bright red, which signals previous use. His project “ABCs: A Behaviour Changing Syringe” is designed to deter non-sterile syringe re-use in India. The syringe is packaged in nitrogen- filled pack, which ensures that the syringe remains colourless. When exposed to air, the o-crestolphthalein ink, which is impregnated in the syringe’s barrel rapidly absorbs the CO2
and causes the permanent change of
colour. The system allows 60 seconds when the injection should be administered and then turns the syringe red. The faceted barrel prevents retrofitment of normal pistons and thereby avoids unsafe reuse. Dr Swann’s impact estimation indicates that by year five, his design will have prevented 700,000 unsafe injections, saved US$130 million in medical costs and 6.5 million life years.
http://designtoimprovelife.dk/abcs-a-behaviour- changing-syringe/
www.med-techinnovation.com
Source: University of Edinburgh
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