Belay
Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

Belay is a digital healthcare ecosystem designed to help children and families manage food allergies. The system is comprised of a series of software and connected hardware devices including: an EpiPen Tag, Base Station, and Wearable. Belay aims to transform the lives of families with food allergies by tracking the status and location of Epinephrine injectors (like EpiPens) used in the management of the condition. The system also provides crucial communication links between caregivers in a family's network.

Over the course of 18 months, Tomorrow Lab worked as part of a team of consultants including Adler Design, Impel Studio, Studio Rodrigo, Bytefly, IP attorneys, and the Above the Fold Team, among others. Tomorrow Lab helped develop the product strategy and hardware product architecture, lead the electrical engineering and firmware development, and provided copywriting and editing for the mobile app and important documentation. After several rounds of prototyping, we delivered six sets of prototypes for field testing.

01 — Product Concept

The Belay mobile app sits at the center of the Belay product ecosystem. Among other communication features, the Belay app reports the status of hardware devices: EpiPen tag, wearable, and home base station. Between all the Belay hardware devices, the Belay Tag is the cornerstone element of the system. A tag is attached to each epinephrine pen owned by the family. Embedded iBeacon Bluetooth technology allows efficient power usage and small battery size. The iBeacon signal allows the mobile app, wearable, and base station to 'see' tags in the local area, thus allowing status tracking of epinephrine pens, and family members carrying them.

02 — EpiPen Tag Design

One of the first tasks of the development of the EpiPen tag included establishing the form factor. Through multiple sessions of brainstorming and prototyping, we landed on a small, stick-on tag to attach to the epinephrine product cases. We created a custom circuit in the most compact form factor possible. We designed a Bluetooth circuit with necessary firmware to accomplish location identification, temperature damage sensing, and audio and light response when initiated remotely from the mobile app. We powered the device with two CR1616 coin cell batteries providing over one year of battery life to corresponds with the recommended 12-month prescription and shelf life of an EpiPen.

03 — Base Station Design

The base station is designed to help a family organize two epinephrine pens in a well-design container that acts as a 'parent device' to all Belay tags, sensing and controlling any tag nearby using Bluetooth. The base station also incorporated WiFi connectivity in order to provide constant reporting of tags in and around it. In case of an emergency, the push of a button announces audio instructions for temporary caregivers (like babysitters) on the proper usage of an epinephrine injector and necessary emergency steps to follow.

02 — Wearable Design

Like the base station, we designed the wearable as a 'parent device' to all Belay tags so that a child who does not carry a mobile phone could take advantage of the tag's features. The rechargeable wearable allows its wearer to 'ping' all nearby tags by pressing a button and be alerted with vibration, light, and sound if they leave their epinephrine pen behind. Additionally, the location of the wearable is reported to the cloud through any nearby Belay base station or mobile app, allowing a 'last seen' status of the child available to family through the mobile app.

Belay
Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

01 — Product Concept

02 — EpiPen Tag Design

03 — Base Station Design

Belay — Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

02 — Wearable Design

Belay — Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

Belay Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

01 — Product Concept

02 — EpiPen Tag Design

03 — Base Station Design

Belay — Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

02 — Wearable Design

Belay — Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies

Belay
Hardware System for Families with Food Allergies