The Challenge
Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with over 17 million deaths each year. In these emergency scenarios, quick intervention can often be the difference between life and death.
A common issue in these emergencies is being able to identify a pulse, and being able to discriminate between a live and non-live one - in other words, being able to clearly distinct between a beating heart and a non-beating heart.
In today's world, manually measuring the pulse (with fingers) is the often the most reliable and quick method for establishing the presence of a heartbeat. However, this can be challenging, taking up to as long as 10 seconds to recognize a stable pulse. Moreover, a manual pulse check while performing CPR is impossible for a single physician, prompting the need for more medical staff.
Other practices can deliver more accurate pulse detection, but follow invasive methods that require time to prepare, making it impractical for emergency situations.
With a team of Electrical engineering students of diverse experiences, we set out to design an innovative non-invasive, portable, rechargeable, and hands-free pulse-detection device that can accurately discriminate between a live and non-live pulse - known as LifePulse.