Student develops 3D printing diabetic pump

Robbie Cooper, born in 2000, in the UK, was a high school student who developed, in 2018, a 3D printing diabetic pump. He was inspired by diabetic students.

Robbie’s design technology teacher gave him the idea for this device because he attends courses about diabetes in order to support students with the condition.

The teenager accepted the challenge and started talking to diabetic students and also got in touch with a diabetes nurse, in 2017.

“The one thing that came up was that you have to regularly prick your finger to test your glucose levels to see if you need to adjust the insulin so this could be every time you eat. People I spoke to said that would be a good idea if that could be changed. The pump that I designed could do this test for you, the cannula is inside your body anyway so that can do the blood test. I also redesigned the motor that delivers the insulin and that was the hardest part. I used 3D printed parts and laser cut parts to create the device”, he explained.

However, the purpose was more important for Robbie then the tech and design challenge. “It’s been the most interesting project that I have worked on and the best thing is that it has a purpose and that purpose is quite important”, the inventor said.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2JFPESL