Glucose Testing Assistance for Visually
Impaired Individuals
There is a need to provide an alternative
method for visually impaired individuals to test
blood glucose.
Only one percent of the blind population is born without
sight. The vast majority of people lose their vision later in life
due to illnesses such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and
diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy is a complication from diabetes
that occurs when diabetes damages the tiny blood vessels inside
the retina. While there are some treatments to delay these
conditions, there is no cure. Within the United States, there are
approximately 4.1 million adults, aged 18 or older, reporting
visual impairment with diagnosed diabetes. This is projected to
be 7.2 million by 2020, and could reach 16 million by 2050.
The difficulty of the current method for those with extreme of
complete vision loss has not been adequately addressed, even
though a few solutions exist. Fig. 1 shows the accuracy needed to
transfer blood to the glucometer test strip.
Figure 1. Transferring blood from finger onto the test strip.
Modified from Healthline.com.
The Haptic Glucometer Guide does not cater to
those with neuropathy.
The haptic glucometer guide (Fig. 2) was invented to guide the
visually impaired diabetic in taking and monitoring their glucose
levels without assistance from others or wasting test strips. Their
design provides a fixed alignment and rotational angle between
the finger prick created by the lancet and the test strip, which
allows the user to then rotate the finger to place the blood drop
on the test strip with the attachment of a glucometer.
Figure 2. Haptic Glucometer Guide.
Kenneth Lee and Kayla Seto
A volunteer test participant was recruited to
Specification Unit Description
Safe N/A As safe as current methods verify and validate our design.
Capable of being sterilized or consist of parts that
To verify and validate our prototype design, Mr. Raymond
N/A can be disposed and replaced
N/A Non-perishable for up to 1 year Bishop agreed to test our device. We had him follow our
Accurate transfer/collection Enough blood transfered and collected from 1 µL
instructions to first become accustomed to the device. We
of blood µL blood droplet to make get a reading then had him run through the entire set up and glucose testing
Accurate as current Must not decrease the accuracy of current scenario with a simulated prick. We also tested accuracy by
methods of glucose testing N/A methods dropping testing solution where the blood droplet would
User friendly N/A surface and then had Mr. Bishop let the magnets guide his
Considers people with low strength, low dexterity,
low touch, and low blood circulation to the finger to the test strip. Finally, Mr. Bishop answered a survey
fingertips regarding user friendliness of the device.
sec Assembly must take less than 20 sec
Method must include less than 5 parts excluding
parts glucometer/test strip together
Portable N/A Largest piece must fit into quart sized plastic bag
oz Weigh less than 4 ounces
Inexpensive $/yr Less than $475/yr
Table 1. Table of design specifications the prototype must meet.
Design specifications were determined to ensure a
safe, accurate, and user friendly device.
As with all current methods, we created design requirements that keep
the user’s safety and needs in mind. Our specific design requirements for
our method are in Table 1, along with the metrics used to measure how Figure 4. Mr. Bishop using the device with testing solution.
well the prototype met those requirements.
Future directions include making changes to
fit our design specifications and creating a kit
that is marketable.
Ensuring the legs fold away completely would allow our
device to meet the portability design specification and would
reduce the stress on the legs when traveling. We would also
need to adjust the magnetic pull strength to accommodate
users with low strength. Finally we could make a kit that
includes a tray to dock the device at home, a bag that would
Figure 3. CAD model of the device showing the progression from A-C of hold the device, glucometer, test strips, and lancing device
magnetic pull guiding the finger attachment to the glucometer frame. specific to the s=design.
Acknowledgments
The prototype employs magnetic guidance to draw Thanks to our client, Suzanne Erb, for providing us with the idea for this
the finger to the test strip. project and guidance along the way. Also thank you to Raymond Bishop for
volunteering to test our device.
The device is made of a glucometer frame and a finger attachment. The
frame is a trestle design with folding legs and holds the glucometer with References
the test strip hanging from the bottom. A ring magnet surrounds the test
Healthline.com. 19 July, 2014,
strip. So the test strip is centered The finger attachment slides onto the https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/ask-dmine-the-worst-intro-
finger and centers the lancing device. Another magnet in the finger to-blood-sugar-testing-ever#1.
attachment pulls the finger toward the test strip, thus sight is not Park et al. “Haptic glucometer guide.” Google Patents. Jun 2016,
needed. Fig. 3 shows how the device is intended to be used. https://www.google.com/patents/US9364183.