Senior Design

BME seniors work to unlock electrotherapy's untapped potential

Alexander James Servantez — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:16:38 +0000

BME seniors work to unlock electrotherapy's untapped potential Alexander Jame… Thu, 04/17/2025 - 15:16

Alexander Servantez

CU Boulder alum Griffin Hale was listening to music one day while treating his pain with an electrotherapy device. Each pulsating, electric shock seemed to mesh so beautifully with the various rhythms and melodies—it was almost as if he could feel the music.

He began to wonder: how can music and electric stimulation combine to create a new electrotherapy device that delivers a more immersive and accessible therapeutic experience than ever before?

Nearly a decade's worth of iterating and design has gone into this vision. But a group of seniors in the Biomedical Engineering program (BME) are helping Hale and his team take the next step on their journey during their senior capstone design course.

The project, sponsored by startup company Full Body Sound, aims to gather biological data by analyzing the relationship between electrotherapy and skin conductance. This term refers to the electrical conductivity of the skin and is a key parameter that the team is looking to explore in order to help Hale and his group realize some of their product’s untapped potential.

A histogram representing the various levels of change the group found in skin conductance during electrotherapy.

“We wanted to know if there was any correlation between perceived sensation of electric stimulation and skin conductance. If so, maybe we can use that indicator to create a feedback loop that guides the electrotherapy device to offer varying levels of electrical stimulation tailored to the individual,” said logistics manager Rachel Haug. “We also wanted to analyze the device’s effect on skin conductance. Since skin conductance is often used as an indicator of stress levels, maybe we can take that data and use it to prove the effectiveness of the device.”

To do this, the group purchased an off-the-shelf testing device equipped with sensors to measure skin conductance. They measured 50 different individuals before and after being hooked up to Full Body Sound’s FBS-01 electrotherapy prototype device.

After comparing the data, the team noticed that almost every test subject’s skin conductivity had undergone a noticeable change. But despite that trend, the group concluded that there was no statistical significance or correlation between electrical sensation and skin conductance.

“Most of the data sits within the range of a 25% increase or decrease in skin conductance. There were some outliers below or beyond that, but for the most part our data resembles that stereotypical ‘bell curve’ that you see in engineering so often,” Haug said. “We anticipated from the beginning that this could be a possibility, but it’s still very useful and interesting data for the future.”

A histogram showing the group's pre-test skin conductance levels compared to post-test levels.

While the systems and test engineers were performing tests and gathering data, the other team members were working on the design element. Using their engineering knowledge and experience with the testing device, they were challenged to design their own sensor that can measure skin conductance just as effectively as the one they had purchased previously.

Not only did the team’s sensor perform just as accurately as the purchased device, they were able to build it at a fraction of the price. It even features an intuitive user interface that is easily accessible for both customers and clients—a stretch goal that the group says took a lot of extra work.

“I completely learned a new technical skill in this program and an entirely new coding language in various softwares to help finish our project,” said quality assurance manager Clare Keeler. “If we were selling this product, we wouldn’t want customers to just see a block of code. A big part of my efforts was just transferring some of the analog data we received from the sensor to a digital output value that everybody can understand.”

With the highly anticipated Engineering Expo event right around the corner, the group is working hard to make sure they have the data and their working sensor ready for everyone to see. But they will also have a surprise.

“Of course, we’re going to showcase our sensor. We’ll have visual representations of our research,” said project manager Chloe Knape. “But we’ll also have an electrotherapy device available so that attendees can have fun and try it for themselves.”

This year’s Engineering Expo is on Friday, April 25 at the CU Boulder Indoor Practice Facility from 2-5 p.m. Make sure to drop by and check out all the exciting projects in action!

A group of seniors in the Biomedical Engineering program (BME) are designing their own sensor that can monitor skin conductance during electrotherapy. The sensor was developed during the group's senior capstone design course, and will be showcased at this year's Engineering Expo on Friday, April 25.

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From left to right: Chloe Knape, Anna Mellizo Kroll, Clare Keeler and Rachel Haug

BME seniors design next-generation surgical tool

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 19:03:24 +0000

BME seniors design next-generation surgical tool Alexander Jame… Fri, 04/11/2025 - 13:03

Alexander Servantez

Surgeons across the country are asked everyday to perform surgical operations with precision and care. But they need the right tools in order for them to be successful.

A group of seniors in the Biomedical Engineering program (BME) at CU Boulder are working to provide those tools by designing a next-generation Argon Beam Coagulator during their senior capstone design course.

Team 6's next-generation Argon Beam Coagulator being demonstrated using a banana.

The project, sponsored by CONMED, funnels ionized argon gas into a pencil-shaped handheld device that surgeons can use during various procedures. The argon gas, ionized by a high-voltage electrode, produces a plasma beam emitting from the tip of the handheld device allowing surgeons to cut tissue and minimize bleeding at the same time.

“When you suspend a beam of argon and ionize it in a plasma, you can reduce the risk of charring or burning to the tissue,” said design engineer and quality assurance manager Creighton Tisdale. “Let’s take a complete knee joint replacement, for example. Clearing out all of the oxygen is pretty crucial and it ensures that there is no extra damage or major bleeding.”

Their iteration of the device aims to expand functionality by offering surgeons a more customizable and adaptive approach. Instead of developing an all-in-one system, the team was tasked with designing a modular device, addressing key cost and practicality issues.

“The premise of our work is offering versatility,” said project manager Devon Mckeon. “Our goal was to create a device that is accessible, so that operating rooms around the world only need to purchase the components that they need, and they can service only the modules that have failed instead of the entire system.”

But perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the project is the handheld device’s detachable grip extension. After consulting with real doctors early on in the design process, the group realized that some surgeons preferred the pencil grip while others preferred a more vertical grip-style attachment.

Instead of choosing one or the other, the group decided to implement both approaches to ensure all surgeons can have the comfortable, ergonomic support of their preference.

CONMED engineer and BME alum Mia Fox testing the argon beam module on an apple.

“You can use the device like you would a pencil. It’s like having a little lightsaber in your hand,” Mckeon said. “But for surgeons who are working from the side that need to keep their wrist straight to cut through the tissue, they can attach the vertical grip and have that capability.”

Coming to this realization was one key to the success of their project, but the team said it wasn’t always easy. Navigating the results of their human factors testing or the thoughts of real-world surgeons made it difficult to settle on specific design specifications.

“One of the surgeons looked at us during one of our meetings and told us ‘you can have 10 surgeons in a room and 11 different opinions,’” said Tisdale with a sneaky smile on his face. “It’s funny, but it’s true.”

Understanding how to work alongside physicians and provide health professionals with tangible solutions is one of the many lessons that the BME program provides students during their senior capstone experience. Whether it was solving device communication issues or making several long drives up to CONMED’s facility in the Denver Tech Center, the group learned a lot about how to manage the design process from beginning to end.

But their sights are no longer in the past. The team says they are excited to show the campus community what they’ve been working on at this year’s Engineering Expo event.

“We are definitely leaning into the showmanship aspect of our project, especially because it’s a really cool end result that we are all proud of,” Mckeon said. “Our biggest goal is to have expo attendees stop by our booth, put on a pair of gloves and try out the different ergonomic attachments. And then we’ll get to demonstrate the argon beam by cutting a steak.”

This year’s Engineering Expo is on Friday, April 25 at the CU Boulder Indoor Practice Facility from 2-5 p.m. Make sure to drop by and check out all the exciting projects in action!

A group of biomedical engineering seniors are designing a next-generation Argon Beam Coagulator during their senior capstone design course. The project, sponsored by CONMED, is a pencil-shaped handheld device that ionizes argon gas to produce a plasma beam that emits from the tip of the device, allowing surgeons to cut tissue and minimize bleeding at the same time.

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From left to right: Creighton Tisdale, Andrew Swanson, Elizabeth Root, Devon Mckeon and David Katilius