Design improvements to the VOCSN critical care ventilator

Crank Software’s Storyboard embedded graphical user interface (GUI) development platform made it easy for Ventec to add additional functionality to the ventilator’s touchscreen and support a partnership with General Motors to deliver 30,000 critical care ventilators to the U.S. National Stockpile.

Storyboard’s rapid prototyping and design tools helped Ventec update the GUI in less than 30 days to provide software with preset ventilation functions to better serve the needs of frontline medical professionals fighting COVID-19.

A Crank customer since 2013, Ventec relies on the Storyboard GUI design platform for its advanced respiratory systems. Storyboard software powers all of the graphics and critically sensitive touch buttons and presets launched on the screen of the 18-pound VOCSN Multi-Function Ventilator. The mobile device combines five therapies — ventilator, oxygen concentrator, cough assist, suction pump, and nebuliser — into one machine.

“We continue to rely on Crank because it makes it so easy to update the user interface. We’re constantly innovating, and Storyboard lets us tweak the graphics and optimise the animations with great ease, with little to no impact on our product development cycles,” said Michael Holmes, Senior Software Engineer at Ventec Life Systems. “In fact, our users often comment on how much they like the touch screen interface and how quick and easy it is to set up.”

“We’re proud that Storyboard performed a critical role in helping our customer rapidly change their GUI design, ensuring it could be operated with great ease and increasing accuracy,” added Brian Edmond, President of Crank Software. “Securing approval for medical devices is no easy feat, and that generally means many stakeholders and multiple rounds of changes. We designed Storyboard specifically to facilitate the design iteration process, so that our customers can get their user interface designs approved far more quickly, and with less headache.”