Moving patients in hospitals is a complex procedure that requires the caregiver to monitor the patient while pushing the stretcher while also managing any external equipment. Students on the Stryker Autonomous Stretcher project will design and develop a system that allows the stretcher to operate autonomously, freeing up valuable caregiver resources for other related activities.
Abstract:
Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and manufacturer of medical devices, including hospital stretchers. These stretchers can be difficult for caregivers to navigate through the hospital with a critical patient. Currently, the Stryker Prime stretcher has a motorized drive assist feature to help assist with moving patients. This feature requires caregivers to be in contact with the stretcher to control the movement, and currently there are no features built in to identify potential hazards or obstructions. With the rise in autonomous navigation in other industries (such as automotive), Stryker aims to create a hospital stretcher that has full autonomy, allowing caregivers to monitor the patient and manage external equipment (IV pumps, oxygen, cardiac monitoring, phone calls etc.).
Impact:
Stryker, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. One of Stryker’s goals of making healthcare better is to provide the tools necessary to make caregivers’ jobs easier in the health care setting. Developing an autonomous stretcher will allow caregivers to focus on the wellbeing of their patients during stressful transports, rather than manually maneuvering the stretcher.
Scope:
Stryker will provide:
Project Overview and Resources
- Physical hospital stretcher for prototyping work
- Access to caregivers or internal surrogates for needs evaluation
- Resources to aid in prototyping
The student team will provide:
Minimum Viable Product Deliverable (Minimum level of success)
- Design and prototype a concept for an autonomously driving hospital stretcher
- Complete literature/background review that includes basic understanding of stretcher use in the hospital, and caregiver and patient needs surrounding stretcher mobility
- Complete literature/background review that includes current internal Stryker knowledge, and competitive technologies for powered and autonomous stretchers or similar devices
- Evaluate use cases including but not limited to:
- Collision detection
- Collision avoidance
- Leading and following modes
- Fully autonomous driving
- Autodocking
- Operator user interface
- Determine system requirements for the minimum viable prototype based on analysis and with input from sponsor
- Brainstorm multiple concepts to address the problems
- Choose best concept and develop a basic functioning prototype with simple controls
Expected Final Deliverable (Expected level of success)
- Demonstrate a functional prototype that can successfully navigate the prioritized environmental challenges without collision, and provide alerts or warnings to people in its path
- Validate the performance against the requirements
- Obtain feedback on the basic prototype function from multiple stakeholders, and incorporate these into a refined second version of the prototype
- Complete a user evaluation of the control location and integrate into the stretcher with “production level” user interface
Stretch Goal Opportunities: (High level of success)
- Fully autonomous driving with obstacle avoidance
- Close quarters “elevator mode”
Below are the skills needed for this project. Students with the following relevant skills and interest, regardless of major, are encouraged to apply! This is a team based multidisciplinary project. Students on the team are not expected to have experience in all areas, but should be willing to learn and will be asked to perform a breadth of tasks throughout the two semester project.
Hardware Prototyping and Sensor Integration (2-3 Students)
Specific Skills: Hardware instrumentation, electrical system development, system integration. Experience or interest with cameras and vision systems is a plus.
Engineering design focused on human factors and human safety engineering. Experience or interest in user interface design, stakeholder interviews, user needs data, and UI/UX best practices.
Likely Majors: EE, CE, ME, ROB, BME
AI Reasoning and Path Planning (3-4 Students)
Specific Skills: Algorithm development and testing methods. Prior SLAM experience is a plus.
EECS 281 (or equivalent) is required
Likely Majors: CS, ROB, ECE, CE, EE, DATA
General Programming (1-2 Students)
Specific Skills: General Programming skills, good software engineering practice and design, and a willingness to quickly develop new technical skills as required for the project
EECS 281 (or equivalent) is required
Likely Majors: CS, DATA, Any
Additional Desired Skills/Knowledge/Experience
- Stryker culture is high-energy and quality driven. We value those who are good team members, demonstrating a hands-on, proactive approach to their work
- We particularly value people who can think at the system level and work across disciplinary categories, connecting and combining their knowledge with the contributions of others.
- Passion for the field of health care
- Successful team-based experience
- Practical fabrication skills: 3D printing, fast prototyping, sensor/hardware integration, CAD, machining, etc.
- Motor control
- Highlight completion of relevant coursework such as ROB 311, 330, 340, or 380.
Sponsor Mentor
Connor St. John, Sr Principal Engineer – Mechanical
Connor St. John is a mechanical engineer and UM grad. He’s been working at Stryker’s Medical division for 10 years on hospital beds and stretchers.
Faculty Mentor
Nima Fazeli
Nima Fazeli is an Assistant Professor of Robotics and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan (2020-Present) and the director of the Manipulation and Machine Intelligence (MMint) Lab. Nima’s primary research interest is enabling intelligent and dexterous robotic manipulation with emphasis on the tight integration of mechanics, perception, controls, learning, and planning. Nima received his PhD from MIT (2019) and completed his postdoctoral training (2020) working with Prof. Alberto Rodriguez. He received his MSc from the University of Maryland at College Park (2014) where he spent most of his time developing models of the human (and, on occasion, swine) arterial tree for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer diagnoses. His research has been supported by the NSF CAREER, NSF National Robotics Initiative, and NSF Advanced Manufacturing, the Rohsenow Fellowship and featured in outlets such as The New York Times, CBS, CNN, and the BBC.
Weekly Meetings: During the winter 2024 semester, the Stryker team will meet on Fridays from 9:30 – 11:30 AM. Location on North Campus TBD.
Work Location: Work will take place on campus in Ann Arbor, with occasional visits to the Stryker office in Portage, MI to access equipment, hold meetings, and give presentations. MDP will provide transportation. All other meetings with Stryker will be held via video or teleconference.
Course Substitutions: CE MDE, ChE Elective, EE MDE, CoE Honors, MECHENG 490, MECHENG 590, SI Elective/Cognate
Citizenship Requirements: This project is open to all students. Note: International students on an F-1 visa will be required to declare part time CPT during Winter 2025 and Fall 2025 terms.
IP/NDA: Students will sign IP/NDA documents that are unique to Stryker.
Summer Project Activities: Students will be guaranteed an interview for a 2025 summer internship. The interviews will take place before the end of February of 2025. Note: You must have the right work in the U.S.A indefinitely, without sponsorship, to participate in the summer internship program.
Learn more about the expectations for this type of MDP project
If you have any of these characteristics, highlight them on your Experience and Interest Form and talk about them in your (optional) one way video interview.