Jose Guemez-Marquez uses Lego bricks to make medical equipment

In the eyes of MIT inventor Jose Gemez-Marquez, the future of medical technology in developing countries lies in Lego toys, cheap mobile phones and dollar stores. In a brick building in the college, he is using Lego robot kits and DIY Arduino circuit boards to develop non-traditional and affordable medical technology to 'copy' the various performances of laboratory robots manufactured for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Marquez vividly calls it 'supply chain arbitrageHe firmly believes that simple measures such as remodeling medicine bottles and helping locals do DIY can be a powerful way to subvert the basic principles of medical and health care.　Gemez-Marquez’s laboratory is located in the International Design Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is the so-called small device laboratory. This laboratory is equipped with the latest generation of 3D printers and laser cutters. In 2012, Gemez-Marquez came to work at the International Design Center. An experimental mold made with magnetic beads purchased from a toy store. In the small device laboratory, you can see toys (most of them have been disassembled), pregnancy detection devices (understand the internal structure after disassembly), glue sprayers and soldering irons. In addition, you can also see a Lego Robot made of toys. Christian Olsen, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, said of Gemez-Marquez: “He is a true innovator, dedicated to sending the gospel to those who do not have access to comprehensive medical services, especially It’s a backward area.” The robot designed and assembled by the students of Gemez-Marquez took a few days before and after. A 1-foot (approximately 30 cm) high Lego tower is used to fix the syringe. The syringe is controlled by several plastic gears. Next to it is a self-made automatic data tracer that uses a motor removed from an old computer printer. This device has high accuracy and is responsible for transferring chemical reagents to the filter paper, which can be used for on-site blood testing to determine whether there are pathogens. Its cost is only a few hundred dollars, which means that clinics in any part of the world can perform high-level diagnosis of diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever. In contrast, an automated pipette can cost as much as $100,000. Gemez-Marquez is holding the components of the Solarclave, a portable solar autoclave used for disinfection and sterilization of surgical instruments in rural clinics. A prototype of Solarclave was installed on the roof of the building where the laboratory is located.　A simple tuberculosis compliance system, designed and manufactured by Gemez-Marquez and Olsen. This device uses a low-power private freezer for refrigerating patients' medications. One of its wireless modules is connected to the mobile phone network. If the patient fails to take the medicine on time, the freezer will alert the medical staff via the mobile phone. In 2011, they came to Ethiopia with a prototype, but the result was a mess-the Arduino circuit board of the system burned out, the local mobile phone network was not compatible with their device, and the red LED used for the display device to function normally had to be replaced with it. Other colors, because red makes the locals feel uneasy. Gemez-Marquez said: 'We have to make partial changes. Only after things go wrong, you will know what needs to be improved.' Gemez-Marquez and Madeleine Abbey of the School of Hemp Physiology and Engineering. Gemez-Marquez called the gadget lab 'the hacker space of public institutions.' He hopes that his design can go out of the laboratory and bring the gospel to people in need. In addition, he is also willing to share his resources with others. Gemez-Marquez believes that the biggest challenge is to become a 'meta-designer.' However, the potential impact that meta-designers can have is the greatest. He said: 'What we have to do is not to become the best designer of these devices, but to design and manufacture a complete set of parts so that people can assemble it themselves.'