We thank Lunar Design for awarding us the Robert Howard Next Step Award, of 100 hours of design consultancy. They have been professional and inspiring mentors. Check out the Lunar blog about the RHNS Award, and their recent update on our projects.
Below is the blurb I provided to the Lunar Corp Comms team regarding our experience:
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Having the opportunity to work with Lunar was the best thing that has happened to our project so far. The contributions of Matt, Andrew and Patrick brought our work to a higher level, and gave us a blueprint to follow for the road ahead.
Our project was based on the observation that laparoscopic (keyhole) surgeons were absolutely dependent on the view from the camera. When the camera lens is fouled by water vapor or blood, workflow is interrupted and time is wasted cleaning the lens.
Under the excellent guidance of Matt, Andrew and Patrick at Lunar, we further defined the problem, brainstormed solutions, and did some low resolution testing of the top ranked ideas. We made a very crude lego prototype in Singapore, and Lunar designed a beautiful to-scale works-like prototype that we can now use for more vigorous testing in the animal and cadaver labs. This was all completed in 6 weeks.
Lunar's design was not only useful for our internal testing, it allowed us to better communicate our idea to our clinical collaborators, and receive useful feedback. We are very impressed by Lunar's expertise, and honored by this chance to work with the pros. Matt, Andrew and Patrick went above and beyond to ensure we had a successful project presentation in Dec 2012, despite extremely tight time constraints.
We are applying for grant funding to take our concept to the next stage. Our prototype reliably maintains camera vision despite brisk bleeding, and we look forward to greatly improving the safety and efficiency of future laparoscopic surgery.
