For many hospitalized infants and children, an intravenous line is a critical part of care. But when that line becomes tangled, pulled or dislodged, the consequences can be painful, disruptive and potentially dangerous.
That problem became the focus for Team Reel-IV, a Bioengineering senior design team made up of Priya Agarwal (BE & Wharton ‘26), Anushka Gandhi (BE ‘26), Yerahm Hong (BE ‘26), Nicole Mirzaian (BE ‘26) and Ayma Waqar (BE & BioMed ‘26). Their device is designed to reduce accidental IV dislodgement in pediatric hospital settings, particularly neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).
The system automatically manages slack in IV tubing through a tension-sensing mechanism, allowing patients to move more naturally without placing dangerous tension on the catheter site. The goal is to improve patient safety, reduce interruptions in treatment and ease the burden on nurses who regularly reposition and untangle IV lines.
The project has already earned national recognition. Reel-IV placed second in the PennHealthX Venture Pitch Contest, second at the M&T Summit, received the Founder’s Award and an Honorable Mention at the TCU Values and Ventures Competition, and placed second at the University of Minnesota’s 25th Anniversary Design of Medical Devices Conference.
For Michael Siedlik, Lecturer in Bioengineering and one of the team’s faculty advisors, that recognition reflects the team’s commitment to understanding the problem before designing the solution.
“A critical component of Bioengineering senior design at Penn is that each team of students must identify a meaningful, real-world problem to be solved,” says Siedlik. “Team Reel-IV exemplifies the commitment to learning from nurses, doctors and patients.”
A Personal and Clinical Need
For the students, the project began with both personal connection and clinical observation. Several team members had close friends or family members whose babies spent time in NICUs, giving them a window into how overwhelming pediatric hospital environments can be for families.
That connection deepened as the team spoke with NICU and PICU nurses. They learned that IV dislodgement is not an occasional inconvenience, but a recurring problem nurses manage during routine care and patient movement. The team was also drawn to pediatric care because many medical devices are designed first for adults, then adapted for children.
“We did not want to build something purely technical for the sake of engineering,” says Waqar. “We wanted to work on a problem where even a small improvement could genuinely make hospital experiences safer and less stressful for children, families and healthcare workers.”
Siedlik says that the process of listening, learning and refining is central to senior design in Bioengineering. Reel-IV, he says, “continuously evolved their project throughout the fall semester until they settled on their final design solution.
A Team Effort Across Disciplines
Reel-IV required the team to work across technical development, clinical research, market analysis, business strategy, computer-aided design refinement, presentation development and outreach. Each part of the project depended on the others: clinical research helped define the need, prototyping and testing shaped the device, market analysis and business strategy clarified its path forward, and presentation development and outreach helped the team communicate the value of their work to clinicians, judges and potential partners.
That range of responsibilities made collaboration essential. Team members brought different strengths to the project, but the work had to move as one system. They regularly came together for testing sessions, design reviews and feedback discussions with clinicians, using each round of input to refine both the device and the broader strategy behind it.
“Because Reel-IV sits at the intersection of engineering, healthcare and entrepreneurship, we had to constantly communicate across different areas of expertise,” says Waqar.
For Siedlik, that ability to sort through feedback was one of the team’s most important areas of growth.
“A challenging part of entrepreneurship, and something that many students can initially struggle with, is identifying which external input is valuable feedback and which is just noise,” he says. “It was very exciting to see them become increasingly confident throughout the semester at navigating through that to ultimately arrive at their final, award-winning prototype design.”
Designing for Reliability
One of the team’s biggest technical challenges was designing a system that could actively manage IV tubing tension without interfering with medication flow or creating additional safety risks. The students repeatedly tested tubing behavior, spool geometry, motor responsiveness and force thresholds to make sure the device responded appropriately without damaging tubing or affecting flow rates.
The process also taught the team to prioritize simplicity. As the project advanced, they narrowed their focus to the core problem: preventing dangerous line tension and dislodgement.
“One major lesson we learned is that good engineering is rarely about building the most technically complicated solution,” says Waqar. “It is about building something reliable, practical and usable in the real world.”
Siedlik was especially impressed by the team’s validation work, including usability testing, durability testing, quantitation of failure modes and evaluations of possible unintended consequences.
“I have been impressed by Reel-IV’s drive to rigorously validate their final device,” says Siedlik. “I expect them to be ready to test their device with patients soon, and I believe they are well-positioned because of the effort and intensity that they have put into their senior design project.”
Beyond Senior Design
Reel-IV is not ending with the academic year. The team plans to continue developing the device through additional prototyping, clinical testing and, eventually, hospital pilot programs.
For Siedlik, Reel-IV represents something larger than a successful senior design project.
“To me, Team Reel-IV represents engineering with empathy,” he says. “I believe that as technological advances continue to grow exponentially, human connection and empathy will be more important than ever.”
That mindset is visible across the team’s work: in the clinical research that grounded the project, the technical design that made it functional, the business strategy that helped define its path forward and the communication that carried Reel-IV onto national stages.
The team began by listening carefully to patients, families and clinicians. They then translated that understanding into a biomedical engineering solution designed to improve safety, comfort and care.
“I am eager to see the impact they have,” says Siedlik, “and I am confident that their work will improve lives and communities.”
