Wearable
FHR & Uterine
Monitoring Patch
for JANITRI INNOVATIONS
2018 - 2019
#productdesign #industrialdesign #healthcare #startup
#medicaldevice #wearable
" Help us with the design and development of the Keyar system"
Arun Agarwal , CEO
SCOPE
Janitri had already attempted a build — thick, industrial, not market-ready — and brought Catail in to design and develop the complete patch and connected handheld display device, scoped as two versions: single-use for private hospitals, reusable for government hospitals. Engagement ran 20 weeks.
SCOPE OF WORK
Product Design
Design Engineering
BOM and data release
Material Sourcing
Vendor Management
Prototype assembly
STAKES
The gap in
monitoring
1.02 million intrapartum stillbirths and 904,000 intrapartum-related neonatal deaths occur globally every year. In India, 80%+ of deliveries are conducted by staff nurses, not doctors — and existing CTG monitoring devices are expensive and expert-dependent.
Janitri set out to close that gap with Keyar.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Playing
with the
Constraints
Janitri's prototype was thick and industrial. Diagnosing it, we found the issue was structural: they'd built the patch as a layer on top of a standard ECG electrode pad. We tore the pad apart and used the electrode itself as the base element — removing a whole layer of bulk. That fix made a genuinely slim, wearable form possible.
​
Before touching form, we locked the assembly sequence for both patch versions. Paper trials then shaped the geometry: a circular cutout aligned to the navel, and a side cut giving enough flex to follow the belly's curve and keep electrodes in constant contact.
PORTABLE DISPLAY DEVICE
Monitoring continues until labor, and a mother needs freedom to move. We designed the display to hang from the neck — hands-free, soft, rounded, unintimidating.
SINGLE
USE PATCH
USED WITH
ELECTRODE PATCH
REUSE
PATCH
Iterate, Refine,
Protect the Vision
From Prototype to
Pilot
Single-use: thermoformed food-grade HDPE with foam and non-woven fabric layers.
Reusable: electronics sandwiched between embossed silicone.
Display Device: 3D printed parts to vacuum casted parts.
We engaged with global material vendors and local fabrication partners to achieve the desired results.
​
A patch worn for hours needs to come off without hurting. Comparative trials across foam and fabric combinations — early ones pulled body hair, burned on removal, lost grip after reuse — led us to a pairing that held reliably. Open question flagged for the next round: keep reducing skin-side adhesive strength.
GOING BEYOND THE COMMITMENT
Could a
disposable
medical wearable
be designed
differently ?
The disposable patch's plastic use bothered us.
​
During a scheduling gap, we explored a paper-based alternative—testing different GSMs and scoring techniques to reduce plastic while keeping the wiring correctly positioned. There were plenty of failed samples along the way.
​
Taking it further would have meant bringing material specialists and vendors into the process. We presented the exploration to the client, but the product launch timeline meant we had to stop there.
​
An experiment that remained an open question.
FINAL DELIVERY
We assembled and delivered 50 units as a pilot batch, as committed, for Janitri's team to validate in the field.
We have worked with Sandeep for almost 2 years for our initial proof of concept designing and development. He and his team did a great job end to end starting from user research to final product delivery. They really took the product ownership and worked closely with us which helped us in solving the challenging problem.
Arun Agarwal , CEO - Founder
JANITRI INNOVATIONS PVT. LTD.
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