So Monday dawned bright and early, my first official day of work at Toth Tecnologia, and I have to admit I was more than a little bit nervous. I knew nothing of my project or what skills it would require or even how friendly my coworkers would be.

We got up extra early so that Professor Carlos could drive us to campus and so I entered Toth at 8:00 AM sharp, ready to go…only to realize that 8AM start times are definitely not a thing here. The 13th floor office was empty, only one of my coworkers present, sipping coffee in the breakroom. We talked amicably until the others began to trickle in.

I met Francisco and Jeferson, my bosses, and finally received more information on my project: to design a Bluetooth-enabled clinical thermometer to be used in conjunction with another product they are developing. Most of the electronics are already completed, but I am to design and test a physical prototype.

I spent a long time just clarifying my assignment, asking questions upon questions and reading Toth’s user/technical manuals on their products. This was complicated by the language barrier and the fact I know very little to no Portuguese. Reading is not so much an issue due to my knowledge of Spanish and this wonderful little gem called wordreference.com. However, speaking to my colleagues and nailing down details is very difficult for both me and them. Most of them speak very, very good English, however clarifying the assignment is all about shades of detail, which unfortunately also happens to be the hardest to aspects of language, for native or non-native speakers. For example: scrub, wash, soak, and wipe all have similar broad meanings, in that they can be methods used to clean an object. However, in design terms, there is a huge difference between designing something to withstand vigorous scrubbings, long soaks, or a few gentle wipes. So it’s a matter of me asking the question repeatedly, miming what I mean, and rephrasing to better get my point across.

Once that was all squared away, I jumped right into background research, looking up everything from the physical design and properties of benchmark thermometers to the difference between axial and core body temperature. If you ever need any sort of information ever on clinical thermometers, Allie’s your gal. Fun fact: most digital thermometers don’t actually take your temperature. Instead, they use 5-10 seconds of data and known thermal properties of the probe to “predict” your body temperature. Waiting for the cold metal probe to reach equilibrium with your skin would take far longer (5-15min).

Next, I spent a long time examining the physical dimensions of existing electronics hardware and deciding how best to incorporate it into my design. The biggest challenge with prototyping, I think, will be size since the circuit board and transducer are quite small and delicate. I began sketching some early designs as the week ended, looking at dimensions and rough, overall shapes for the body.

All in all, a busy but exciting start to my time here in Porto Alegre!