Gentex Announces Smart Lighting Technology For Medical Applications
January 07 2020 - 11:00AM
Today at CES, Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) unveiled an
innovative lighting technology for medical applications that was
co-developed with Mayo Clinic. This new lighting concept represents
the collaboration of a global, high-technology electronics company
with a world leader in healthcare.
Gentex’s new smart lighting system combines ambient room
lighting with camera-controlled, adaptive task lighting to optimize
illumination for surgical and patient-care environments. The system
emerged during the last 18 months of collaboration between Gentex
engineers and Mayo Clinic surgeons, scientists, and operating room
staff. The teams researched, designed, and rapidly iterated
multiple prototypes in order to develop unique features that
address major gaps in current surgical lighting solutions. The
result of this collaboration is a series of flush, ceiling-mounted
lighting units containing banks of dynamically adjustable LED
arrays that work in concert to place focused illumination when and
where it’s needed. The system uses voice commands, hand gestures or
a hand-held tracking device to establish a target lighting zone. An
integrated machine-vision camera then orchestrates light-array
activation, intensity, and direction to mitigate shadows and create
optimal lighting conditions within the defined surgical field.The
project allowed Gentex, best known for supplying advanced
electro-optical products to the automotive, aerospace and fire
protection industries, a chance to apply its expertise and platform
technologies to the medical industry. “Gentex has a long history of
combining camera systems with control algorithms to manipulate
light, but medical applications afford a host of new opportunities
and challenges,” said Gentex Chief Executive Officer Steve Downing.
“Thanks to our cross-disciplinary collaboration, we’ve engineered
an advanced prototype system that has the potential to transform
how patient care is delivered.”The Gentex-Mayo team credits its
success to critical problem identification, accelerated development
cycles, an open exchange of ideas, and a lack of constraints on the
form and function of the lighting solution itself. “Starting with a
blank slate allowed the team to develop novel design criterion,
user requirements, and performance expectations,” said Mayo’s
Jordan D. Miller, Ph.D., who directs Mayo Clinic’s Center for
Surgical Excellence and leads the development project for the Mayo
Clinic team. “Our surgeons and operating room staff then
provided system critique to each prototype iteration. We’re now
preparing for clinical trials in order to assess system performance
in our operating rooms specifically geared towards testing
innovative technologies.”Gentex and Mayo anticipate that smart
lighting is just the first in a series of collaborative
opportunities. The two organizations share a common goal of
improving healthcare through the development of innovative
technologies. Judy Boughey, M.D., a surgeon and Vice Chair
for Research in Surgery at Mayo Clinic, elaborated on this point:
“We’ve faced challenges in optimizing surgical field lighting for
more than 50 years. We believe this represents an opportunity to
bring fresh perspective on how to deliver the best care to our
patients every day.” Founded in 1974, Gentex
Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a supplier of automatic-dimming
rearview mirrors and electronics to the automotive industry,
dimmable aircraft windows for aviation markets, and fire protection
products to the fire protection market.
Gentex Media ContactCraig
Piersma(616) 772-1590 x4316craig.piersma@gentex.com
Photos accompanying this announcement are available
at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c2407cbf-30a2-4618-b360-150f3f774ea6https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/334ae819-7ce6-4b60-b65e-829e197e7345
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