2026 Biomedical Engineering Capstone Designs

Menopausal hot flashes are sudden feelings of intense heat, elevated heart rate, and sweating that last 1-5 minutes and may occur multiple times a day. Affecting 85% of women, these symptoms persist for an average of 11 years. CoolFlash aims to mitigate hot flash symptoms by delivering automatic, targeted cooling to the user across a broad surface area of the body.

Many patients with potential heart problems are prescribed a continuous Holter monitor to record electrical heart activity in daily life. However, to obtain context for these signals, patients must keep physical journals to track symptoms and activity. The process is inconvenient, and often logs are left incomplete or inaccurate, limiting the clinical value of the data. We propose a discreet, multimodal Holter device that will reduce the need for manual journaling while automatically capturing contextual activity data, ensuring more reliable and interpretable information for physicians.

Workplace-related pain is extremely prevalent amongst cardiac sonographers and is primarily caused by the high contact force against patients, exacerbated by long scans or large patients. Current market solutions either fail to target the root cause of the pain or aim to completely change or remove the sonographer’s role during an ultrasound scan. We designed a semi-robotic arm to be used with existing ultrasound equipment that helps to address cardiac sonographer pain by applying assistive force into the patient without affecting workflow. 

Our project investigates knee valgus mechanics during jumping and landing tasks using wearable inertial measurement units and machine learning models trained on motion capture and force plate data. Athlete movement patterns are used to predict knee abduction moment and frontal-plane knee motion in field settings. The goal is to develop an athlete-ready system that delivers interpretable ACL injury risk assessment, performance monitoring, and individualized training feedback for coaches and trainers.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide and affects over 2 million Canadians. Rural patients face the highest risks and often travel hours for infrequent checkups. Spiiro bridges this gap with an at-home system that uses AI to analyze testing techniques and provide feedback on user errors. By generating clinically meaningful metrics in an accessible language, Spiiro supports patients and provides healthcare providers with the insights needed for timely, life-saving clinical decision-making.

Students with hearing disabilities struggle to engage fully in class lectures and group discussions. VocalPoint is a portable table-top device that connects wirelessly to users’ hearing aids to amplify speakers of interest and reduce noise in loud indoor settings. Current technologies are expensive and not compatible with all hearing aids on the market. VocalPoint aims to bridge barriers to education using microphone array processing, voice detection, and localization in a user-friendly package.

Proper illumination in the mouth is crucial in dentistry, but current lighting options present significant drawbacks. Overhead lamps cast shadows, requiring disruptive manual adjustments. Headlamps offer shadow-free focus but are heavy, causing ergonomic issues and neck strain. Our project will develop an automated overhead dental light system, combining headlamp precision with overhead comfort to eliminate minor adjustments and boost efficiency.

Haptis is a wearable system that assists with sound localization for individuals with hearing impairment. Hearing impairment often hinders one’s ability to localize sound, as auditory cues, including interaural differences in sound amplitude and arrival time are diminished. The device captures surrounding audio, which is processed to estimate the horizontal direction of incoming sound. Through delivering distinct haptic vibration patterns associated with sound direction, the device aims to improve the users’ spatial awareness for safety and confidence in responding to conversations and alerts.

[AD]² is an assistive device designed for individuals with Alzheimer's disease to assist them in remembering their loved ones. The system integrates event-related potential (ERP) EEG with eye-tracking and monitors users’ neurophysiological responses to determine whether they recognize a person. When non-recognition is detected, it delivers personalized visual and auditory cues as a reminder. By automating reminders, [AD]² aims to reduce caregiver burden while lowering patient frustration associated with memory lapses and social disorientation.

Nearly half of all tennis players suffer from elbow pain, with about 75% of these cases resulting in tennis elbow. Players often lack the objective data required to pinpoint the technical habits that trigger their injury. Racquet Science addresses this gap with an integrated monitoring system that tracks grip pressure and wrist mechanics during active play. By mapping these biomechanics trends against user-reported pain levels, the platform provides physiotherapists with evidence-based insights to design effective prevention and recovery strategies. 

What you do before you sleep has a significant effect on your sleep quality. Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) has been proven to promote feelings of calmness, which is important for health, performance, and getting ready for a good night’s sleep. CalmCoach provides HRV-BF, allowing you to better prepare for sleep, and train your breathing to promote calmness.

PRISM is a pressure-sensing system for the interface between a transtibial prosthetic socket and the residual limb. It integrates a distributed array of sensors into a standard prosthetic sock. Calibrated to each user’s anatomy, PRISM measures localized pressure during daily use and presents the data as intuitive, real-time visual feedback. This helps users adjust sock plies throughout the day and enables clinicians to identify high-risk pressure regions, mitigate skin degradation, and make informed socket design decisions.

DorsiFlexx is a wearable rehabilitation system designed to improve recovery in patients with restricted ankle dorsiflexion, a condition that commonly occurs after ankle sprains. By combining comfortable wearable sensors, machine learning-based movement analysis, and an intuitive mobile app, DorsiFlexx tracks exercise sessions, evaluates movement quality, and provides clear, actionable feedback to patients and their physiotherapists. By promoting proper exercise execution and consistent adherence, DorsiFlexx enables more engaging, data-driven, and effective physiotherapy outcomes.

The current pediatric prosthetic workflow is time-consuming and labour-intensive, resulting in large burdens placed on families in the form of travel and costs. Additionally, children often outgrow their sockets before insurance covers a new one, leading to discomfort, requiring frequent refittings. Our goal is to design a pediatric lower-limb transtibial adjustable socket with moving panels that accommodates complex growth patterns throughout puberty. Using novel technologies like granular jamming and sensor calibration, we hope to reduce the burden on children, their families, and the healthcare system.

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological condition that affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age and is frequently associated with severe pain. Despite this prevalence, it is often misdiagnosed or remains undiagnosed for years due to social stigma, symptom ambiguity, and the lack of non-specific tests. OvaFluo was developed as an at-home, rapid, and quantitative screening device that measures an endometriosis associated biomarker in menstrual blood to indicate disease presence. This approach provides diagnostic objectivity that supports patient-reported symptoms and facilitates earlier referral for definitive surgical diagnosis and treatment.

Neuroendovascular surgery, a minimally-invasive surgery technique targeting brain diseases like cancer and aneurysms, has revolutionized how we treat brain diseases in adults, but access for Canadian children is limited. Pediatric cases require specialized training due to their complex geometry and unique diseases, which is currently scarce across Canada. VascuLearn, in collaboration with SickKids, is bridging this gap with a pediatric neurovascular simulator. By using a custom pump to mimic blood flow through 3D-printed vessel models based on patient MRI scans, the simulator provides affordable, high-fidelity training, ensuring children can access this gold-standard care.

Acute hydrocephalus is a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain’s ventricles, resulting in elevated intracranial pressure levels. Patients with this condition require the placement of an external ventricular drain to divert excess fluid. NeuroFlow is a system that replaces standard gravity-based treatment with motorized CSF drainage and automated catheter obstruction clearance, minimizing over- or under-drainage caused by physical disturbances, decreasing patient infection risk, and reducing clinician workload.

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is a growing global threat, yet identifying resistant infections such as urinary tract infections still depends on slow, lab-based testing. In under-resourced settings, harsh environmental conditions and limited infrastructure make these tests impractical, leading to delayed or ineffective treatment. ABRDetect addresses this gap with a compact, low-cost screening device that uses an electromagnetic biosensor to rapidly detect resistance-associated enzymatic activity through resonance frequency shifts. This enables point-of-care screening in settings such as refugee camps, supporting earlier treatment decisions and better patient outcomes.

For many wheelchair users, being weighed during a medical visit is simply not feasible due to clinical constraints. Up to 70% of physicians rely on patients’ recalled weight while others are forced to guess, both of which are prone to error. Inaccurate weight measurements can lead to incorrect medication dosing, missed diagnoses, and other preventable health outcomes. Our project aims to solve this problem by developing a device to measure the weight of adult wheelchair users, reducing physical and financial barriers to accessible care.

Retinal imaging plays an important role in assessing a range of eye diseases, yet access remains limited by expensive equipment and rigid clinical setups. This project focuses on designing a compact, low-cost device that captures detailed, wide field-of-view images of the back of eye. Using infrared illumination and an adjustable chin-forehead support, the system accommodates natural differences in pupil size. Captured data is processed through a web-based platform to produce a composite image and support optometrists in clinical decision-making.