AeroLyze

What it does

AeroLyze is the world's first breath glucometer for prediabetics. By replacing blood with a breath, the design eliminates the pain and inconvenience of pricking your finger altogether. AeroLyze makes it breathtakingly easy for prediabetics to live healthier.

Your inspiration

Click! I squinted my eyes shut every time my dad pricks his finger. It is a long, painful ritual for just a mere glimpse at the glucose level — a three-digit number. Yet, with these numbers and hard work, my dad is still devastated — with heart, kidney, and glaucoma. People would quickly blame his lack of commitment, but humans are built up of experiences, not just mere numbers. This begs the question: How might we design a better glucose monitoring experience?

How it works

Unlike other glucometers, no blood is required because AeroLyze uses breath acetone analysis. When you blow into AeroLyze, the gas sensor samples the acetone exhaled. Acetone is a compound that gives prediabetics a distinct breath smell and a by-product of fat combustion. The lower the blood glucose, the more the fat is metabolized. Simply put, lower acetone level translates to higher blood glucose. Blood glucose level is then improved, interpreted, and learned by a neural network that leverages data points like activities and locations from the phone. This can help the users better to understand stressful fluctuations from activities and their behavior. Should blood glucose reach dangerous levels, AeroLyze can also notify the user based on what it learned. Through intelligent acetone analysis, AeroLyze makes it breathtakingly easy for prediabetics to live healthier.

Design process

Despite the obvious pain from pricking your finger, journey mapping helped me see that it takes 4 out of 7 steps to prepare for finger pricking. This drives the ideation of non-invasive glucometer that would eliminate pain and inherently streamline the experience. I began ideating concepts by applying emerging technologies to the observed user's needs. Through storyboarding and role-playing, I selected narrow down ideas that showed the most potential. Breath analysis shows the most significant potential because it can be taken on the fly, produces no waste, and near-instant results. Plus, deep breathing is an excellent affordance for a positive experience. I also prototyped using Arduino and a gas detector to prove a working concept and tested it against traditional glucometer. Since breath glucometer is a new category, it means conceiving a new visual language for the object. The challenge lies in balancing the lifestyle and the medical aesthetic. The user can feel stigmatized if it looks too much like a vape or nebulizer. Through design iteration, I was able to balance the form and function that shaped the unique experience of AeroLyze.

How it is different

AeroLyze is unlike any other glucometer because it focuses on the experience of the user. By replacing blood with a breath, the design eliminates the pain and inconvenience of pricking your finger altogether. The breath affordance also helps the user take a break away from a busy day to care for themselves. Furthermore, AeroLyze uses a rating scale interface instead of digital reading to reduce anxiety and misinterpretation around fluctuating blood glucose levels. AeroLyze wants to make it breathtakingly easy for prediabetics to live healthier.

Future plans

- A stress test in scenarios like working out and during alcohol consumption. - Develop it further for accuracy and medical-grade device - Potential to expand into Ketosis and Alcohol detection

Awards

Core 77 Design Awards — Student Winner in Health & Wellness category