WardPole

How it fits together

WardPole, part by part

Scroll or tap a part. Press “See the 3D CAD design” to watch the model, built from our CAD, light each part up and show how it connects.

See the 3D CAD designShow the concept

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1. 01

   The whole WardPole

   One brain at the top of the IV stand weighs the bags and the oxygen cylinder, reads the drip camera and the oxygen sensor, and alerts one app.

2. 02Brain

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown)

   The brain: it runs the wardpole firmware program

3. 

   03

   Two bag scales

   Weigh each IV bag: mL left, time to empty and flow

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · HX711 two-wire (GPIO) · Bag weight, 10 times a second

4. 

   04

   DripClip camera

   Counts drops; sees a stopped drip or a free-flow stream

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · ESP-NOW radio · Drops per minute, stream flag

5. 

   05

   Cylinder scale

   Weighs the E oxygen cylinder: oxygen left, real flow, hours left

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · HX711 two-wire on the pole lead · Cylinder weight

6. 06

   FlowTee oxygen sensor

   Reads concentrator oxygen purity, flow and hours used

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · UART on the FlowTee lead · O₂ %, L/min

7. 07

   Light ring and buzzer

   Green, amber or red for bags and oxygen, seen from the corridor

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · GPIO data line · Colour and chirp

8. 

   08

   Battery and mains inlet

   Runs the stand unplugged; mains loss means a power cut

   Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 (Crown) · 5 V on the pole lead · Power, mains-lost signal

9. 09

   All connected

   7 key parts, one program, and your phone

The idea

One IV stand beside the bed weighs the drip bags and the oxygen cylinder and shows time to empty and oxygen hours left

How the parts connect

WardPole, wired up

Every part, what links it to the brain, and how the data reaches your phone. A solid line is a cable; a dashed line is a radio link.

The program

What controls WardPole

void loop() {
  if (tilt.still()) {
    bagA.add(hxA.read()); bagB.add(hxB.read());
    cyl.add(hxCyl.read());                       // up the pole lead
  }
  Drops d = clip.latest();                       // ESP-NOW from the DripClip
  Line a = fuse(bagA, d);                        // mL left, mL/h, minutes left
  Oxy o = oxygen(cyl, flowtee.read(), mains.ok());
  ring.show(worst(a, bagB.state(), o));
  if (a.stopped || a.freeFlow || o.hoursLeft < 1) buzzer.chirp();
  if (millis() - lastSend > 30000) { mqtt.publish(report(a, bagB, o)); lastSend = millis(); }
  delay(100);
}

To your phone

How the data reaches WardPole

Nurse's phone or ward tablet; family phone for home care

1. Crown
2. Wi-Fi · MQTT over TLS
3. IEMI cloud
4. Web app and push
5. Nurse's or family phone

Key specs

Targets for production units; they may change during development.

Pricing

Target pricing. Bought separately, our DripCrown Bed Kit ($249 + $6/month) and OxyCart with FlowTee ($199 + $4/month) add up to $448 + $10/month. Parts cost about $194 a ward stand and $270 with the FlowTee at qty 1 (est.).

Indicative launch pricing in USD, excluding taxes and shipping. Final pricing is confirmed before any balance is charged.

1. 29 Oct 2026, 15:55LatestSmall hospitals, nursing homes and home-care teams check drip bags and backup oxygen cylinders by eye on rounds; NHS England reviewed 120 oxygen cylinder incidents in a year, many with a cylinder empty at the point of use (WardPole DESIGN.md market check).

   • Drawn idea plan (idea.json): a four-bed ward bay from above, with the beds, lockers, IV stands, an oxygen concentrator by bed 2, the door and the nurses' station across the corridor; pins for the crown on the stand, the drip clip, the cradle with the cylinder, the FlowTee on the concentrator line, a second stand at bed 4 and the nurses' phones
   • The product picture is now this drawn plan instead of the plain fallback card; drawn from the design notes, not the CAD
   • What the plan keeps from the market work: it is a monitor and alert aid on the stand the patient already has, and nurses still make every clinical decision
   • Next: close-out C9 (recommend the first product to the owner) from 30 Oct 00:00; until then more drawn idea plans, starting with WasteSort once its page matches the clip-on coach design

   See it in 3DFull research and design

2. 27 Oct 2026, 11:45A patient on a gravity drip who also needs oxygen has a bag and a cylinder beside the bed that both run out. NHS England reviewed 120 oxygen cylinder incidents in 12 months, some with the cylinder empty at the point of use, and hospitals pay $78–189 plus a clamp up to $143 for holders that put the cylinder on the IV pole but tell nobody anything. Our own two products for it cost $448 and $10 a month a bed.

   • New product WardPole: one IV stand with one XIAO ESP32-S3 brain in the Crown, one 2 x 18650 battery in a new Cradle low on the pole, one USB-C inlet and one app does the jobs of DripCrown and OxyCart
   • Reused CAD parts unchanged: DripCrown's Crown case and lid and DripClip camera clip; OxyCart's FlowTee case and lid. Reworked: OxyCart's cylinder cup and guide collar for the pole. New: the Cradle case and lid with the cylinder load cell, battery, charger and lead sockets. 10 printed parts, each one solid, every bought part fits first time
   • 3D view: the loaded IV stand beside a bed, two bags and the drip clip at the top, the E cylinder standing in the Cradle's cup low on the pole, the FlowTee on the concentrator line
   • Dropped: OxyCart's cart, mast, ballast, casters and e-paper; the FlowTee's own chip, battery and adapter; two of three ESP32-C3 chips and one 18650
   • Product page https://iemilabs.com/products/wardpole/: $349 + $8/month with the FlowTee ($279 without) instead of $448 + $10/month; parts about $194 to $270 at quantity 1 (est.)

   See it in 3DFull research and design

3. 27 Oct 2026, 11:45A patient on a gravity drip who also needs oxygen has a bag and a cylinder beside the bed that both run out. NHS England reviewed 120 oxygen cylinder incidents in 12 months, some with the cylinder empty at the point of use, and hospitals pay $78–189 plus a clamp up to $143 for holders that put the cylinder on the IV pole but tell nobody anything. Our own two products for it cost $448 and $10 a month a bed.

   • Combined into WardPole (https://iemilabs.com/products/wardpole/); DripCrown itself is unchanged

   See it in 3DFull research and design

4. 27 Oct 2026, 11:45A patient on a gravity drip who also needs oxygen has a bag and a cylinder beside the bed that both run out. NHS England reviewed 120 oxygen cylinder incidents in 12 months, some with the cylinder empty at the point of use, and hospitals pay $78–189 plus a clamp up to $143 for holders that put the cylinder on the IV pole but tell nobody anything. Our own two products for it cost $448 and $10 a month a bed.

   • Combined into WardPole (https://iemilabs.com/products/wardpole/); OxyCart itself is unchanged

   See it in 3DFull research and design