My recent hospital stay exposed me to a number of things that have eluded me in my normal, non-hospital-based life, most notably bottles that you can pee in while in bed without everyone calling you lazy and disgusting, and also modern hospital beds. It’s the hospital bed that I’d like to discuss now, because the modern hospital bed I was in, a Hillrom Centrella, utilizes a certain kind of lighting technology that I’d previously only seen in the mass market on premium cars and SUVs — but the bed uses the tech for a very different purpose and context. I’ll explain.
First, I should note that the Centrella may very well be the most advanced bed I’ve ever had the pleasure of dampening. It’s a remarkable machine, capable of keeping my aching body in multiple comfortable positions while simultaneously monitoring various aspects of my well-being, and being ready to alert the nursing staff should I have decided to make a break for it.
I mean, this thing had everything: a USB charging port, integrated speakers connected to the wall-mounted television, powered casters for transport, full articulation, sensors all over the place and so much more. A technological tour-de-force that I slept on, and, I’m not proud to say, soiled on more than one occasion. (I was in ICU, cut me some slack!)
One of the most notable things the Centrella had, the feature most likely to be commented on by people who came to visit me, was this:
See those projected images on the floor by the bed? Those are part of the SafeView+ system, designed to let caregivers see some basic status information about the bed at a glance, from a distance, without having to, say, get all the way up to the bed and peer at some little screen.
It’s extremely clever, and if you’re curious, those icons tell, from left to right, the bed side rail condition, the bed exit alert status, and the right one tells that the bed is in its lowest position.
Now, to a car person, these sorts of images projected on the ground are actually quite familiar, as they have been a staple of premium cars and SUVs for nearly a decade or so now, and we call them “puddle lamps.”
There’s a puddle lamp on a Mustang, being admired by my son Otto when he was, jeez, like nine years younger. These use the exact same simple and bright projector technology as the Centrella SafeView+ projection system, though an informal conversation with a Hillrom representative revealed that the engineers on the Centrella project were not inspired by the automotive puddle lights, though if they were it sure would make this story a lot better for a car website like ours.
Still, that’s not going to stop me, because I still think what is going on here is pretty cool: we have the same fundamental technology, but used in wildly different context and for purposes that are about as removed from one another as possible.
In the automotive world, this technology is used to broadcast to people in the vicinity of your car, at night, that you’re a person of refinement and taste who was more than happy to throw around a few extra bucks to get exciting light shows like this every time you approach your car:
And in the case of the Centrella bed, this lets a passing nurse know at a glance if there’s an alarm set in case you try to sneak out of bed, like some kind of miscreant with tubes connected to your abdomen.
These really couldn’t be more different applications for the same project-a-bright-image-on-the-ground tech, and yet here we are, in the unexpected and beautiful convergence of fancy car and hospital bed tech.
You want to know another little detail I liked on the Centrella? It was this indicator of bed angle:
I like that it’s indicated with that little metal ball instead of some LED-based indicator I would have expected. I’m not sure why it’s done this way, and I suspect there must be a good reason – perhaps so this can still be read in unpowered situations? But there’s something quite satisfying about it.
Also, that indicator with the two down arrow buttons forms a sort of sassy face, which was a big help keeping one company on those lonely nights in the ICU. Miss you, Sassybedface!
[Ed Note: Not to hijack Jason’s blog, but I’d like to note another medical-auto industry crossover: The pressure sensitive mat! Check this out:
I remember seeing a “pressure sensing floor mat” like the one above when I visited my Oma at a nursing home during her final days on this planet. Here’s a description of what it’s for, via Val-U-Care:
Quiet, Wireless and Cordless – Pressure Sensing Floor Mat 24″x48″ by Smart Caregiver (PTFM-07C, Gray) works with wireless and cordless fall prevention monitors, place next to a bed or in a door way to monitor a resident getting up or leaving a room.
It’s all about monitoring vulnerable people and attending to them if they leave when they shouldn’t or if they fall out of bed. It works in a similar way to this “pressure-sensitive safety mat” similar to the one I stepped on when I was an intern visiting Jeep’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant (where they build the Grand Cherokee), thereby shutting down the entire assembly line (I got chewed out! Every few seconds of down-time cost the company thousands!):
Here’s the description of its purpose, via Rockford Systems, LLC:
Pressure-sensitive safety mats are intended to be used as auxiliary or additional safeguarding equipment to protect operators and other employees in the machine area. They must not be used as primary safeguarding except when all other means are not applicable.
These mats can safeguard many types of machines. When considering their use, the following should be asked:
- How is the mat to be interfaced to the existing motor control or equipment? Does a new control or starter need to be added?
- Can the motion of the machine that is creating the point-of-operation hazard be stopped quickly? If it can, what kind of clutch and brake arrangement does it have? Is the machine hydraulically or pneumatically operated? Is it operated by any other means?
Anyway, there’s lots of crossover between the medical and auto fields, apparently! -DT]
The angle indicator is a metal ball to not have another LED shining at you while you sleep
That’s interesting. As someone who has had way too many overnight hospital stays, I always thought the objective was to shine as many lights on patients for as many hours a day as possible. That plus opening and closing the hospital room door as many times as possible during normal sleeping hours.
Is there a steering wheel for the powered castors? And do you get a turbo version too for patients who you suspect will have to be opened up a gain very quickly?
Suspect it is all very boring to drive without much range. Especially for those who have had bladder surgery and to not want shocks entering from a delicate place….
You said puddle lights and my brain jumped to piddle lights. They’d both be used to show you were about to step in “water”
I was a little disappointed to be wrong. But you know status indicators is cool too.
Thinking about it though. It could be nice to see the state of charge as I walk up to my PHEV.
A fun exercise would be to determine how the car version of this tech could be made more useful with data about the car displayed. What info would be really helpful with these projectors?
Off the top of my head I’m thinking it would be a great EV battery charge indicator that comes on when connected to a charger. You could see it from the restaurant you’re sitting at easily so you don’t have to pull out your phone, wait for the app to connect over cell networks and just enjoy your meal instead.
Maybe stuff like fuel level and time-to-service interval for ICE cars? I’m sure there are a lot of ways this could be more useful, even as a luxury option we don’t really need but would give it more purpose.
Projecting light on the floor is also used for safety reasons in manufacturing plants.
Fork lifts sometimes have blue lights projected on the floor a number of feet ahead of their direction of travel to give others a visual warning of their presence and direction of travel to avoid collisions.
Man lifts can be equipped with downward facing red light beams to give warning that there is work being done overhead.
“Now, to a car person, these sorts of images projected on the ground are actually quite familiar, as they have been a staple of premium cars and SUVs for nearly a decade or so now, and we call them “puddle lamps.””
Is there an actual point to these other than as a flex?
As the name suggests, they shine on the area where you first step when you get out of the car, so you know if you’re about to step into a puddle.
Definitely a luxury rather than a necessity, but somewhat useful I guess?
I’d buy that if they were simple lights designed to illuminate, not car logos designed to advertise.
There are plenty of new cars that come with plain lights to illuminate any puddles. The logo ones are 100% just to flex.
Had puddle lamps on a 2005 Freestyle, FWD, mid level trim. @ 4,400 lbs., the only thing on it that flexed were the brake lines.
Good.
my e39 has those, and they don’t project the BMW logo or anything. it’s just a normal light that illuminates where you’re about to step out.
My Golf has these and it seems their main function is to create yet another reason for my kids to take YET MORE TIME getting in and out of the car. “Get in the car. Yes I see the light, it is there every time. In the car, now. Get OFF the ground. Get IN the car.”
I’m thinking of putting duct tape over the light.
> bottles that you can pee in while in bed without everyone calling you lazy and disgusting,
That hasn’t entirely stopped you before!
https://jalopnik.com/how-to-pee-in-your-car-and-keep-your-pants-dry-1658903998
That is one schmick hospital bed! I have been an ED nurse in Australia and the UK for… let’s see, nearly 18 years, and have encountered some very techie beds. The feature of this one that excites me the most is the powered castors – all of this technology (and ever bigger patients) adds weight. The solution now is a clip on powered bed mover, which is fine when you are planning to move a bed a long distance, like to a ward down the corridor or on another floor. It’s not helpful if you, say, need to move it to a different ED cubicle. It isn’t practical (takes too long) to get a bed mover so we just do it manually and very often injure our backs – this will save so many back injuries!
As a side note, I have mainly worked in Australia’s public system and UK’s NHS but from my experience, the public hospitals over here usually have newer, better equipment than the private ones so I hope to see these soon!
ED nurses? That’s some serious specialization there.
Wait no
It’s a hands-on job.
Rule 34. Can confirm.
Ha ha, well done. Only just twigged what you mean. ED is not a commonly used abbreviation for “erectile dysfunction” in Australia (ads for prescription medications are not allowed here, so there is a certain purple pill that doesn’t get talked about on TV). When you are hurt or sick, depending on the English speaking country you live in you go to the:
USA – ER
UK – A&E
Australia – ED
Torch, I love that you’re in the ICU, having narrowly escaped The Reaper by covering up your junk (that’s how I heard that story anyways), and while you’re in there full of tubes and wires and drugs … you’re still taking notes and pictures for a future story! You freaking rule dude!
“It works in a similar way to this “pressure-sensitive safety mat” similar to the one I stepped on when I was an intern visiting Jeep’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant (where they build the Grand Cherokee), thereby shutting down the entire assembly line”
Now this is a story we need to hear more about, David.
At the very least we need to know : What was the purpose of this mat? How did you come to step on it? Why did it cause the entire assembly line to shut down? How frequently is it accidentally triggered?
All I want to know is what is this factory warranty coverage period is and what does it cover? (^‿<)〜☆
I think that might be down to reliability and longevity: steel-ball technology is remarkably resistant to obsolescence. The cynical part of me suggests it’s also probably an older and already-certified design, so it’s cheaper to go that route than to get a new design certified by the government.
Also trucks have beds. 🙂
A friend’s Mini Clubman has these, and we’ve been trying for years to identify/source the bulbs themselves to replace a burned-out rear door one. BMW unsurprisingly wants you to buy the entire assembly…
Can you get any sort of part number from the item? I suspect BMW sourced them from somewhere.
Or if you have an example handy, you can narrow it down by characteristics:
https://www.mouser.com/c/optoelectronics/led-lighting/led-bulbs-modules/
THANK YOU – this is really helpful! I need to talk to him, revisit the issue (it’s been awhile since we threw our hands in utter frustration) but now I feel energized to tackle it again.
Adding to the pressure sensor mat discussion: my mom was recently hospitalized and had one of those. Every time she got up, the alarm played “London Bridge is falling down.” I found it annoying at first until I realized the hospital is a cacophony of bleeps and boops that nurses learn to tune out, but hearing “falling down … falling down … falling down” is a clever way to differentiate and prioritize a nurse’s attention to a patient who should not be on their feet.
You might enjoy checking out Roujin Z, a film from 1991 (some people might find the amount of fan service annoying, though) written by Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of Akira, about a robotized hospital bed that becomes somewhat sentient: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roujin_Z
“The Z-001 takes complete care of the patient: it can dispense food and medicine, remove excretory waste, bathe and exercise the patient lying within its frame. The bed is driven by its own built-in nuclear power reactor—and in the event of an atomic meltdown, the bed (including the patient lying within) would become automatically sealed in concrete.”
Jason, great article and, David, also great editor’s note, no worries about hijacking anything, as it’s always good to have both!
Wow something like that would definitely make the stay more interesting! I’ve never seen any of that, even a few years ago at U of M. But I’ll be going in again this year so we will see what they got.
“Check Engine”
I don’t really know if I want that: oh crap what do I need to fix now.
Or not: oh crap every know I need fix something
The bed angle indicator is like the slip angle indicator on an aircraft! Sometimes it’s a metal ball, sometimes it’s a bubble.
also used to display the degree of heel on sailboats
My former employer used to sell a lot of stepper motors used in beds like these to adjust your position. Cool to hear that it was nice.
Don’t forget the massive depreciation too- check out surplus sales where hospital beds go for under 100$
That bed probably cost more than many cars do.
Certainly more than Torch’s cars. ????
Most are around a couple grand. The ones with built-in massage and other fancy jazz are more like $10K – $15K.
Honest question: what is going on with the last picture used as example of a puddle light? The projection appears to be black? How come? Lasers burning the logo on the ground?
Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve been impressed with a puddle light. I’m believe the way it works is it actually illuminates the entire ground by the door (useful for not stepping in something, unlike having a small logo), but there’s a logo that swings out as it turns on blocking part of the light. Think of it like having the bat-signal, miniaturized, and pointing at the ground… To be that clear and distinct though probably took a lot of optics and engineering work.
edit – the reason the logo swings out is it’s on the mirror which is motorized. I guess it’s a little easier to pull off than I originally thought.
Ah yes, I see it now. At first I was confused by the other source of light, I thought everything was illuminated, but I can see the separated sources now (I think). The logo has the same colour of the ground to the right of the picture. White is indeed a shade of black, it seems!
It the theater work these are called Gobo lights.. you get a logo or designprinted on a clear or colored filter and shine a white light thru it, Presto! instant black out design.
I seem them used for all sorts of scene lighting on stage.. Even knew a guy who made some decent money making them. (some of the older styles used metal plates with the design cut out of them.)
I’m thinking this one is just a black logo attached or printed to the inside of the light lens and the movement you see is the power side mirror swinging out into “normal” driving position.
Don’t feel shamed at all about finding inventive ways to get clean sheets, Torch! When I woke up from my 32-day coma I asked my Mom at some point after how I pooped when I was under. She just looked at me straight-faced and said, “How do you think?” Fair enough, Mom. Fair enough. lol
p.s. I broke 2 of my hospital beds from f’n around with the buttons too much. Fentanyl is a hell of a drug
User name checks out
I think we all have Sassybedface that you’re back!
Incontinence monitoring gives new meaning to ‘puddle lamps’.
I thought for sure that last icon on the right, the yellow amberish one, was going to signify that you had wet the bed.
That is a blue light that pops up and flashes
Bed cop.