The team behind ARMOR Heat Monitor: #1 – Roos Goll, Senior Project Manager
Roos Goll is Senior Project Manager at Evalan and has been involved in the development of the ARMOR Heat Monitor from the start. ‘It has been about six years since I came into contact with the Defense Training Medicine and Training Physiology Department,’ she says. “At the time, they were looking for a system to monitor the physical load of the soldiers during training and exercises. At Evalan, we had already developed wearables related to this. For this reason, the development process for heat monitoring has been started.”
Risk of heat injury
"If soldiers wear insulating clothing or the training intensity is very high, the core body temperature can rise to unhealthy levels, with all the consequences for their health," explains Roos. ‘Breaks and fluid intake help against heat injury, but when and how do you use these measures exactly? And how do you identify that the core body temperature may be getting too high?'
National Technology Project
“These questions formed the basis for our participation in the National Defense Technology Project. Within this program, we defined the exact purpose of the end product in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and we developed and tested prototypes', Roos continues. “We have also optimized usability, portability, and comfort compared to existing heat monitoring methods.”
Challenges
“During this development process, we faced some challenges. The ECTemp algorithm was a very reliable basis, but how do you make the data collected from it available in real-time? Which information is really important, and especially how do you present that information clearly on one screen? First and foremost, ARMOR Heat Monitor is a very useful tool for monitoring heat stress. The supervisor gets direct insight into the crucial data and ultimately can intervene based on this.'
Rewarding
‘For me, the development process of ARMOR Heat Monitor was very interesting and instructive. I like that ARMOR Heat Monitor provides real-time feedback in real training situations and that ARMOR helps to prevent damage to health. I also like that the technology I have worked on is applied in practice and thus contributes to people's health. Connecting technology with people: that is Industrial Design in a nutshell. And exactly the reason why I once chose this study.'
Future
'More than 1000 ARMOR Heat Monitor systems are now in use at the Defense training centers. But I also see opportunities in other sectors because there is also a risk of heat stress among other employees, for example, at fire brigade organizations and training centers for emergency services. Or in the process and food industry. And don't forget endurance sports! Ensuring the safety of employees or endurance athletes is, and rightly so, increasingly important.”
“Technically, I also see all kinds of possibilities for ARMOR, for example, by expanding it with extra functionalities such as location display: for example, a supervisor can carry out the monitoring remotely. Using extra sensors is also possible, for example, sensors that monitor physical exertion or training intensity. There are plenty of opportunities for ARMOR Heat Monitor, both technically and in terms of application possibilities. Of course, I will remain closely involved in that too!' Roos concludes enthusiastically.
Profile and background of Roos
Roos studied Industrial Design at TU Delft. She then obtained her master's degree in Mechanical/ Biomedical Engineering, and she graduated at Philips with a method that has now been patented for safety checklists in operations. Roos has been working at Evalan for over eight years as a Senior Project Manager. In this role, she develops and supervises IoT projects from the design phase to implementation. In her spare time Roos is a fanatic soccer and hockey player.
