A new glove device aims to help people with trichotillomania, or compulsive hair-pulling. Senior undergraduates are developing a glove-based sensor that tracks hand motion and flexing, combined with a smartphone app that tracks behavior over time. The glove incorporates flex and other sensors along with a gyroscope that sense when a hair-pull has happened. The glove sends data to the app, which keeps track of “no-pull” streaks. “The reward for every week you don’t pull your hair could be monetary or something as simple as a congratulations on the app,” says Linda Liu, a student in Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering.
A student-designed implantable pump to help relieve pressure on the brains of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus or idiopathic intracranial hypertension has won the top prize in this year’s Brown School of Engineering Design Showcase.The Bra
People who compulsively pull their hair – suffering from an affliction known as trichotillomania – could find relief with a device created by Rice University students.Seniors at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering are developing a glove-based sensor t
Share Pressure from excess cerebrospinal fluid on the brain is often relieved by surgically installing a shunt that carries the fluid to a reservoir. But when pressure in the reservoir itself is too high, the shunt needs a little help. Seniors at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering are working on a solution: an implantable shunt pump that senses elevated intracranial pressures and pulls fluid away from the brains of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus or idiopathic intracranial hypertension, even when reservoir pressures are high. The “Brain Drain” team designed a negative-pressure pump system that gently lowers pressure when necessary, pulling fluid toward a reservoir in the peritoneal cavity, pleural cavity or the right atrium of the heart.