Following two successful projects* in partnership with the Rouen University Hospital (C.H.U.), an IRSEEM team has developed software to process data from a market analysis platform. The medical goal is to highlight pathologies: problems with the knee, ankle, back etc.

The facility has a platform with a plate like a weighing scale. The plate senses loads in 3 directions: top to bottom, front to back and left to right. The patient walks on the platform and takes a few steps onto the plate.

A group of mathematical processes reproduce speed, acceleration and distance. By studying the patient’s behaviour when he goes onto the plate and his centre of gravity, we can find potential anomalies to explain pathologies.

As soon as the project ended, IRSEEM and C.H.U developed a new collaborative project to create organ simulators. The purpose of the equipment (a box and two electrodes coated in biocompatible silicone) is to send controlled electrical discharges to certain organs to regulate how they work for example (e.g. digestion in the stomach).

The two part project has been run by project manager, Pierre Merriaux, from the very start. A prototype (far bigger than the finished product) is being designed to enable operators to control its functions correctly. Next, approximately forty miniscule pieces of equipment will be produced to implant in rats. These pieces of equipment will be fitted with a coin battery which lasts 40 days and they will be programmed using a wireless induction system from a PC.

IRSEEM drew up the specifications with C.H.U. along with a development study for the production batch. The results of the project will help us improve knowledge of organs and their reaction to electrical impulses.

Contact : Pierre Merriaux, Research Engineer, pierre.merriaux@esigelec.fr

* a domino heart transplant to connect a heart pump’s wires and batteries and an abdominal belt to assess a patient’s bloating through changes to the abdominal perimeter.