In a hospital in Rwanda, a mother held her newborn close, tears in her eyes as she shared her story. The NeoMates, an all-women biomedical engineering team from Georgia Tech, listened intently. Through a translator, they learned the baby had developed sepsis due to an infection in the amniotic fluid—something her physician had never explained to her.

It was a stark reminder for the NeoMates. They knew the challenges of prolonged labor well, but hearing the story firsthand made it all the more real. 

It was a moment that hinted at the enormity of their task. The team was addressing a significant problem: how to help mothers and babies through prolonged labors in low resource settings.

But just a week and a half before their flight to Kigali, Rwanda, in March, the NeoMates were still grappling with a big question: Was this trip really going to happen?

Just months before, they had been preparing for a capstone project trip to Ethiopia—until political unrest in the country forced a sudden change of plans. With their original destination off the table, the team quickly pivoted, redirecting their efforts toward Rwanda.

“We got approval the Wednesday before spring break, and we left a week and a half later on the Sunday before school started,” said Safa Ghaya, a member of the NeoMates. “We’d worked so hard, but we didn’t have a clear answer up until that point. When we landed in Rwanda, I was in disbelief and shock because it hadn’t properly hit me until we were actually there.”

This shift was more than just a change of location; it meant finding new collaborators and reestablishing connections in a different healthcare landscape, all while continuing to push their predicate device development forward.

From the very beginning, the tone was set: “This was going to be an independent undergraduate research project,” said Eeman Uddin, another member of the NeoMates. “Everything was up to us. It was us leading our own research, creating our curriculum and projects.” The NeoMates took this challenge head-on. Making a connection with the University of Rwanda, they didn’t just visit hospitals in Kigali—they ventured into rural areas and even hospitals managed by Chinese doctors, navigating different healthcare perspectives.

For them, this wasn’t simply a capstone project or about engineering a device; it was about tackling the messy, human side of healthcare, bridging the gaps between what healthcare providers know and what patients can access—meeting communities where they are and delivering what is truly needed.

They embraced the challenge as the fall 2023 semester began. Unlike most capstone courses, which last a semester, their Global Health project would last two semesters. Along the way, they presented their work during the fall Capstone Expo. But it would take a trip across the world to find out if their assisted delivery device was effectively addressing the problem.

The NeoMates started with a core team of six—Anushka Chalmeti, Haydn Turner, Callie Dahlke-Baumann and Siya Kannan, along with Uddin and Ghaya. But as the calendar turned to December and Turner graduated, the team faced a turning point. It was then that Millicent Warner and Natalie Van Slyke joined the ranks for the spring semester.

With their expanded team, the NeoMates moved from a rigorous first semester of ideation and design into an even higher-stakes spring. Their mission was clear: refine their prototype and travel to Rwanda to see their device in the hands of real users.

Months earlier, they had been deep in research on neonatal sepsis, which can arise from complications during obstructed labor, leading to infections in newborns if the baby remains in the birth canal for too long. But the stakes are high for mothers too. Prolonged labor increases the risk of maternal infections and sepsis, which can complicate their recovery post-pregnancy.

In their research, the NeoMates discovered how widespread this issue was, especially in remote areas where options like C-sections aren't available. “When talking to midwives and delivery nurses [in Ethiopia], we realized how pervasive the issue is,” said Uddin, who also minored in global development.  “Also, we’re female engineers, and women's health is an important issue for us.”

Obstructed labor has been a complication of childbirth since the field of obstetrics began. For centuries, obstetricians have tried to save the lives of mother and child by forcibly removing a fetus. Their solutions have been wide-ranging, from forceps, vacuum extraction, and cesarean sections to something called the Blonsky device, patented 60 years ago. The mother was strapped to a baby-launching centrifuge that spun her around, ostensibly flinging the freed fetus into a safety net.

“It sounds wild, but this was actually a U.S. patent,” Uddin said. “So, even in the United States, this issue is underserved and underdeveloped. In low-income settings, it’s particularly challenging.”

During their trip to Rwanda, the NeoMates heard stories that brought this issue into sharper focus. "There was one mother," recalled Kannan, a member of the NeoMates on the pre-med track. "She was holding her baby and crying. As she explained what happened, other mothers in the room started getting emotional too." Through a translator, the students learned that the mother had an infection in her amniotic fluid, causing sepsis in her baby.

It was stories like these that made the NeoMates realize how critical their work was. "The thing is, this problem [neonatal sepsis], isn't only a problem in Rwanda," Kannan added. "It's a huge problem in Clarkston, GA, which is like 25-30 minutes away from Atlanta."

Today, hospitals often use a vacuum-assisted device for difficult births. A suction cup is placed on the baby’s head. During contractions, the doctor or midwife uses a handle on the cup to gently bring the baby into the world.

But there are risks with this procedure. 

Warner, another pre-med who joined the NeoMates in the spring semester, explained that as the cup applies suction, “it creates a ring of damage to the baby’s scalp.”

The NeoMates—confronted by modern labor methods and imperfect tools that still present risks to both baby and mother—set out to create something better, something safer. But they couldn’t rely solely on their engineering or biomedical training alone. 

At Georgia Tech’s Biomedical Engineering program, the lines between engineering and clinical care blur in ways that are intentional and essential. For the NeoMates, this integrated approach was the foundation of their project. 

“That's why we take so long in the first semester to even get to prototyping,” said Uddin, reflecting on her experience with Engineers Without Borders and how traditional engineering can often overlook human factors. “From August to October, all we're doing is really making sure that whatever solution we have is addressing the user, is something that's worth it, is something that's doable.”

Their breakthrough came from an unexpected source: origami. Inspired by the Japanese art of folding papers, they borrowed their design from the collapsible structure of the origami ball, embedding a folding mechanism that was more than clever— it was essential. 

Their device, aptly named the EggStractor, trades the usual suction cup with a folding gripper that carefully encircles the baby’s head, rather than applying flat suction. “We were able to disperse the force around the baby’s head and make it less per point,” Warner explained. The gripper, made from Tyvek and enhanced with silicone spray, does the job of contracting and expanding as needed, allowing for a snug fit on the fetal scalp.

But the utility of their design is two-fold. This folding mechanism also isolates the vacuum pressure from the baby’s scalp, significantly reducing the risk of injury like blisters, bruising, or hematomas. In current devices, vacuum pressure is applied directly to the scalp. Their design changes this approach.  

“It has a membrane over the entire origami fold, and there’s a vacuum pressure inside that membrance that allows it to contract and open,” explained Dahlke-Baumann, who brought her experience in prototyping with AutoCAD—a software used for designing 2D and 3D components—to the project.

Because the vacuum pressure is contained in that membrane, it never touches the baby’s head. It’s a clever rethinking of an old problem—one that already offers significant safety improvements over existing vacuum-assisted delivery devices.

Origami and the Chicken (subhead)

Developing their origami-based device was not a straightforward process. The NeoMates went through rounds of prototyping, constantly returning to the drawing board to refine their designs.

The program’s emphasis on user-focused design set it apart. “Its not necessarily the most innovative solution that gets a prize at the end, it’s the one that’ll actually work for your user.,” Uddin said. This ethos ran through every aspect of their prototype development process. Warner, a pre-med student, put it plainly: “If your device works but your user can’t use it, then your device doesn’t work. That’s what we’ve been taught throughout our curriculum.”

Warner had taken an origami engineering class earlier in the year and saw the possibilities in applying what she learned there.

“Our team had already discussed incorporating an origami element into the core of our device,” she said. “And seeing the physics behind it was fascinating. For instance, one aspect of the device uses a fold that has a negative Poisson's ratio."

Most materials, like a rubber band, behave predictably: stretch them in one direction, and they get thinner in the other— a characteristic known as positive Poisson’s ratio. But that’s far from ideal when you're trying to fit something snugly around a baby's head. 

With origami, however, the NeoMates found the opposite. Having a negative Possion’s ratio, it’s able to expand in both directions when stretched, counterintuitively becoming thicker or more voluminous when pulled rather than thinning out. Warner explained, “Our fold pattern works differently. If you stretch it one way, it also stretches the other way, effectively shrink-wrapping around the baby’s head.”

The negative Poisson’s ratio transforms the device into something dynamic, almost alive.

“While the origami design might initially attract interest because it looks cool, it also provides functional properties that other materials simply can't achieve,” Warner said.

A blend of innovative design and engineering functionality, with a heavy dose of creative thinking, highlights the NeoMate’s approach. Early in their prototyping journey, they embraced an unorthodox method of testing the vacuum-assisted origami delivery device. It involved a roasted chicken.

Using the chicken as a stand-in for human tissue, the team conducted proof-of-concept tests to ensure the device was safe. Uddin explained, “We placed the device's cup on the chicken's leg, gently lifted it, and checked for any signs of skin irritation or abrasion. It was more of a qualitative assessment.” 

Shift in Direction (subhead)

The NeoMates’ project could have taken an entirely different direction.

"We had to decide between a diagnostic or preventive device," recalled Siya Kannan.

There is a need for both. But the team reasoned that diagnostic tools would require use of a wet lab. They wanted to create something simple and practical for the users they had in mind.

“Taking global health engineering helped us see that the best solutions are cost-effective, mechanical, and easy to use,” said Kannan. “So, that was a pivotal moment for our project.”

They decided to focus on prevention.

But designing for low-resource settings isn’t easy.

"We made sure our device didn't require electricity and was purely mechanical," Ghaya explained.

Existing devices, they noticed, were expensive and could only be used once. The NeoMates wanted to design something low cost and reusable, with parts that could be locally sourced if broken. And the user considerations didn’t stop there.

After landing in Rwanda, the NeoMates were met with lots of interest and questions. Every hospital visit, every conversation with midwives, nurses, and mothers brought new insights.

"There was an OBGYN midwife that was really concerned about how feasible it would be to deploy the device in high-stress situations," Uddin shared. “Some worried about the ridges on the cup—would they cause abrasions? There were those who loved the flexibility of the cup but said, ‘We’re more comfortable connecting it to an aspirator than using a handheld vacuum pump.’”

Each hospital had its own take. This was the friction point: some appreciated the hands-on control of the handheld vacuum pump, while others preferred a simpler, more automated approach. Ultimately, it wasn’t just about what the device could do, but how seamlessly it could fit into the realities of each of the healthcare settings they visited.

Still the feedback kept coming; varied but with consistent interest.

“They asked about the durability of the membrane,” Uddin added. “Would it tear? Could it be sterilized regularly?”

And then there were cultural factors, which the NeoMates hadn’t considered until they were right there in the middle of it.

“There are these cultural aspects, like the stigma around vacuum-assisted delivery,” Warner said. “One healthcare professional told us that some people see it as a failure if the mother doesn’t deliver naturally. That was something we had to be very respectful of.”

These were the kinds of nuances they could only understand by being there, listening, and learning.

Getting the Golden Ticket (subhead)

The NeoMates have described the response they’ve received as “overwhelming,” not only in Rwanda, but also at the Capstone Expo, where they pitched their device to numerous healthcare professionals, students, industry experts, and researchers, finding a level of interest they hadn’t fully anticipated.

Kannan described the experience as “surreal.”

But the real turning point came when they received the Golden Ticket. This wasn’t just a pass to the next round; it was a fast track to the semifinals of the InVenture Prize—Georgia Tech’s premier interdisciplinary innovation competition. 

For the NeoMates, the Golden Ticket was more than recognition; it was a signal that they’d built something with real impact. “Suddenly we have a wave of cameras coming towards our booth and we get a golden ticket to the InVenture prize,” she said. “That was the moment when we were all like, wow, people like this and it stands out, and it can have potential.”

Receiving the InVenture golden ticket re-energized the team, propelling the NeoMates into the spring semester and the advanced BME Global Health Capstone program and, ultimately, to Rwanda.

In a small room in a Rwandan clinic filled with medical students and OBGYNs preparing for their day, the NeoMates presented their device.

“We walked in and gave them the whole spiel about what this device does and how it works,” Uddin said. “They were like, ‘Can we use it now? Can you give it to us now, and we’ll test it and let you know how it works?’” Every hospital they visited echoed the same eagerness. As they were leaving, the refrain was always, ‘So when you finish it, you’ll send it back, right? So we can test it and use it?’”

For Uddin and the team, the reactions validated their work.

“We knew from that this is really revolutionary for their healthcare systems, and it would make a lot of difference,” she said. “It was not only an emotional experience, but also rewarding to see that people actually want to use our device and find value in it.”

Back on home soil, the NeoMates hit another milestone at the Rice 360 Global Health Technologies Design competition, hosted by Rice University in Houston, Texas. Competing against teams of undergraduates from Duke, Johns Hopkins, and institutions from around the world, the NeoMates took second place, earning $3,000.

More than the prize money or the recognition, the team was blown away by the comments of one judge who said, “Not only is your idea novel, but we chose you because of your passion. It shows in how you talk about the device.”

But for the NeoMates, it wasn’t the awards or accolades that defined their journey.

It was the human side of things—the mothers in Rwanda, the clinics, the on-the-ground realities—that really tested them. The trip to Rwanda wasn’t just part of the assignment; it was the part that made everything real. 

They were in Rwanda not just to show off a device but to see if it could actually help. They navigated skepticism, tackled cultural barriers, and saw firsthand how their work could fit into a much bigger picture.

And by the time they were back stateside, they had more than just a golden ticket from InVenture or a second-place finish at Rice 360; instead, they’d validated their approach to engineering: one that’s less about theory and more about impact.

“That full circle is what made the capstone experience so rewarding. Not many teams get to see their device in the hands of the user,” said Warner. “There’s just not a lot of time in the semester to go from here’s the problem, to here’s your user holding the device.”

They’d shown that a small team of engineers from Georgia Tech could change the way we think about childbirth not just in places where options are limited but everywhere else too.

Reflecting on their journey, Kannan shared, “We went there to get feedback on our device and help with certain problems. But in the end, we were doing it to educate ourselves, to become better citizens, engineers, and doctors.”