Does "for use in developing world" mean "isn't compliant with regulations in developed countries", or why isn't a cheaper monitor also interesting for eg the US?
Hey adrianN, creator of the project here. "For use in developing world environments" means built to perform to hospital specifications but without the cost markup or over-the-top complexity of a developed world piece of equipment. I've spent about four months working in hospitals in Rwanda and Nepal fixing donated "developed world" medical devices, and the fact of the matter is that 35% break within a year of donation and 95% within 5 years. This project is built so that it is easily maintainable, easily repairable, works out-of-the-box, and is at a price point that developing world hospitals can afford to purchase with their budgets (~200-300 USD, according to my sources in Rwanda). Also, most developing world hospitals have a very high nurse turnover rate, making it critical to make the device simple enough to be used by staff who haven't been trained yet.
Will be making a blog post at reecestevens.me/blog about this very soon (within the week), so check back around Friday and I'll be able to give you a more fleshed-out response (with pictures!)
Truth. Also, with the way insurance works here, it's actually more cost effective for companies to make a more expensive device. If you're selling for a US market, you lose money by making your prices competitive