
Challenge
To develop a hand-held, point-of-care diagnostics instrument which could run fluorometric, multiplex immunoassays using microfluidic consumables. The instrument also had to deliver an outstanding user experience – comparable to the best consumer electronics – along with fully secure cloud connectivity to electronic health records.
Approach
We brought together a multi-disciplinary team which included engineers, designers, physicists, and also biochemists, digital design experts and human factors specialists. This cross-functional team worked closely with the client’s assay development scientists and consumable manufacturing engineers, iterating quickly and efficiently to prove out all the aspects of the system from the embedded software to the product usability and integration with electronic medical records.
Outcome
The diagnostics device was developed, tested, transferred to manufacture and CE marked in less than three years. It has already created a seismic shift in expectation of the performance, connectivity and usability of a PoC diagnostics system.
The images of the device in this case study are purely illustrative.
At a glance
Client
Confidential
Sector
Diagnostics
Services
Electronics
Software
Systems engineering
Industrial design
Human factors
Launch date
November 2018
Team staff on project
40
A simple and robust user interface

The user interface guides the user through various workflows and remains the same regardless of test type and use setting, whether used in an emergency room or as part of everyday diagnostic testing.
We wanted the user experience to be familiar and consistent with a robust flow that just works whether using the instrument standalone or as part of large networked system.
Ben Cox, Head of Digital Design
Embedded software development
The software development required us to consider the entire system from the outset; including the hardware design and processor selection, through to the data security and automated testing required for validation.
Stathis Louridas, Head of Electronics and Software Group


We used an agile development process and automated much of the software integration testing which saved a great deal of time.
Seamless and secure cloud connectivity
The connectivity allows central management, configuration of instrument settings and integration with electronic health records, providing efficient and secure dataflows that fit with existing clinical practises.
We know that connectivity is sometimes a challenge in today’s hospital and healthcare settings so we designed for specific use cases to ensure the system and its users could benefit from two-way cloud connectivity without being reliant on it, so testing is always possible at the point-of-care.
Ben Cox, Head of Digital Design
Visual look and feel
The client was keen that the visual look and feel of the instrument drew design cues from high end consumer electronics to support the whole user experience goal. The challenge was to balance this aspiration with the requirement to make the device robust and easy to clean as the user would potentially handle infected blood.
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