Novel Robotic Platforms for the Accurate Sampling and Monitoring of Water Columns.

The hydrosphere contains large amounts of suspended particulate material, including living and non-living material that can be found in different compositions and concentrations, and that can be composed of particles of different sizes. The study of this particulate material along water columns plays a key role in understanding a great variety of biological, chemical, and physical processes. This paper presents the conceptual design of two patented robotic platforms that have been conceived for carrying out studies of water properties at desired depths with very high accuracy in the vertical positioning.

A new device to automate the monitoring of critical patients' urine output.

Urine output (UO) is usually measured manually each hour in acutely ill patients. This task consumes a substantial amount of time. Furthermore, in the literature there is evidence that more frequent (minute-by-minute) UO measurement could impact clinical decision making and improve patient outcomes.

An automatic critical care urine meter.

Nowadays patients admitted to critical care units have most of their physiological parameters measured automatically by sophisticated commercial monitoring devices. More often than not, these devices supervise whether the values of the parameters they measure lie within a pre-established range, and issue warning of deviations from this range by triggering alarms. The automation of measuring and supervising tasks not only discharges the healthcare staff of a considerable workload but also avoids human errors in these repetitive and monotonous tasks.

A low cost device for monitoring the urine output of critical care patients.

In critical care units most of the patients' physiological parameters are sensed by commercial monitoring devices. These devices can also supervise whether the values of the parameters lie within a pre-established range set by the clinician. The automation of the sensing and supervision tasks has discharged the healthcare staff of a considerable workload and avoids human errors, which are common in repetitive and monotonous tasks.