Designed For Women By Women

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Pratt School of Engineering

From Duke Engineering’s first capstone design class in wearables, led by electrical and computer engineering professor of the practice Rabih Younes, came an impressive collection of futuristic clothing and accessories: construction work gloves that use sensors to detect studs and live wires, a shirt that vibrates with varying intensity to help people with visual impairments sense how far they are from obstacles, and a boot with automated heating/cooling and inflation/deflation capabilities, to aid treatment after a foot or ankle injury. 

Another team took on a real-world client: Garmin, a leading designer and manufacturer of GPS products whose product lineup includes a large array of wearable fitness trackers. The team of three women—Samantha Archer, Sarah Bland and Mary Stuart Elder—all describe themselves as athletic and belong to the segment of potential customers who might buy and wear fitness trackers with extra features, like heart rate monitoring.