Proboscis Needle

Inspiration

Many people, especially children, are scared of injections. This can make the immunization process particular stressful and less accessible for the patients. How can we improve on that? Well, Nature has its own complex and clever designs that we could replicate.

Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest insects on the planet, but what can we learn from them? Mosquito bites are known to be painless and they are really efficient at drawing blood. They were the inspiration for our idea of designing a needle modeled after their proboscis, with the aim to make the vaccination process just as comfortable.

What it does

A specialized needle with a motorized attachment that optimizes the process of vaccine injection. The needle's shape, modeled after the proboscis of a mosquito, is designed to reduce pain and make the injection process faster and pleasant for the patient.

How we built it

The design of the needle and syringe was conducted in Inventor and Solidworks, with several of the parts designed individually and then brought together in an assembly. The parts were then readied for 3D-Printing for a real life prototype.

Challenges we ran into

The proboscis is made of very flexible six needles, making it complicated to replicate them. Additionally, the parts for the motorized attachment need to be quite small to fit on an appropriate sized syringe, thus we can not include them in a 3D printed prototype yet.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Nature can be quite complex in its mechanisms, and so was the anatomy of mosquitoes that we took inspiration from. Needles are highly regulated and thus need significant research and trials for any modification in their design. Despite only having 36 hours to ideate, research, and design, we were able to CAD a complex model for not just the needle, but also all the components needed in a syringe.

What's next for Proboscis Needle

We have a 10-year plan on the development of these needles. First, clinical trials will be conducted. After they have passed those trials, we would aim to educate and promote these needles in Medical and Academic Conferences. Then would begin the manufacturing process, and they would be slowly rolled out and integrated in healthcare settings.

Built With

• canva
• inventor
• solidworks