Dynamically Colour Changing Actuator for Cyanosis Baby Manikin Application with the Philips Hue LED Kit

Medical simulation training is an important approach contributing to medical safety. In the field of neonatology, serious efforts have been devoted to construct manikins, which are realistic in shape and improve the haptic experience. As central cyanosis is a severe pathological sign in infants, new medical trainees or clinicians need to have professional-level skills in assessing central cyanosis. In this paper, we are trying out a new type of actuator, the Philips Hue LED bulb, to dynamically generate a changing colour of cyanosis in a baby manikin. Philips Hue smart lighting is widely used to remotely illuminate home and office. It is also famous because of the wide range of white and coloured-LED bulbs, light strips, and lamps which are used for changing the ambience and switching on and off lights in response to the user input. In this paper, we describe a dynamically colour changing actuator as the application of central cyanosis in a newborn baby using Philip's Hue LED Kit. Herein, we demonstrated a colourimetry analysis based on real cyanosis and non-cyanosis colour changes on a 3D-printed baby's head. The colour change of the baby's head was measured using the Spectraval 1501 spectroradiometer. In this study, the Hue lamp could be turned into a useful actuator to simulate cyanosis on a baby. We measure the combined effects of the subtractive and additive colour mixing which occur when adding an observation lamp. We believe that these measurements will pave the way for a future implementation step, in which the 3D printed head can be turned into a practical cyanosis simulator to be used in real training.