Prior to the FSC’s work, there had been little innovation in diagnostic testing to address the main issues facing the industry: time to result and complexity of tests.  The resulting PathOne™ Analyzer, with its main test device and two-piece, disposable test cartridge containing a live biosensor-based assay, transforms a formerly time-consuming, laborious, and complex process into a few simple steps for conducting tests on-site and within minutes.   The new technology created a new use case for a diagnostic device, one were the device could live in a lab and/or in a active environment (aka on the floor).  FSC required a design that looked both stationary and portable, the goal is to communicate the flexibility of use.  The size of the form dictated that the device sit a slight 15 degree angle when on a table but by elevating the form the device communicates to the user that it can be easily picked up and moved throughout a space.  The white, polished, smooth surface expresses cleanliness and sterility, and is easy to wipe down. The cartridges (and cartridge bay) are designed to be impossible to insert incorrectly.

The engineering team collaborated closely with the Fundamental Solutions Corporation’s biology engineering partner, making dozens of rapid iterations of fluidics designs with 3D prints and in-lab testing with active biology to move quickly from theories to proven cartridge and device mechanisms (fluid storage, pumping, mixing, light collection, minimization of sources of user error). Heat sealing films were developed to allow for very thin cartridge design and sealed fluid pumping channels.  Delve's engineers worked hard upfront to design out as many problems as possible and deliver a technical proof of concept that validates FSC’s vision. In the meantime, industrial design came up with concepts for form development and a visual brand language that carries over to both components. To meet cost requirements, the disposable cartridge was designed to be manufactured as one part.

As industrial design generated and refined concepts, engineering continued to adapt to changing specifications while managing to stay true to the form development and visual brand language work. The final device rests at an angle that is ergonomically appropriate for a machine of its size. Being raised up on legs invites the user to pick it up and cradle it, signaling its portability.

FSC patented the unique, portable form.