Pete Richards
Director of Research EE and Optics | Fitbit
Pete is the Director of Research EE and Optics at Fitbit. Over his seven years at Fitbit he has contributed to the early technical development of many Fitbit technologies, such as the PurePulse optical heart rate sensor and the ECG and EDA features on Fitbit’s new Sense smartwatch.
How a Small Team of Researchers, Designers, and Engineers at Fitbit Created an Emergency Ventilator to Help Save Lives.
Over the course of the pandemic, communities have come together to find solutions to the challenges driven by COVID-19. At Fitbit, we felt a strong sense of responsibility to support our community in the fight against COVID-19. So when our co-founders challenged the team to find ways to leverage our expertise in advanced sensor technology, robotics, signal processing, supply chain logistics, and hardware design to make a meaningful difference, a small team dove into a secret project to help save lives.
Brian Paschke, Creative Director of Industrial Design and Pete Richards, Director of Research, Electrical Engineering at Fitbit will walk through the design process of creating the Fitbit Flow, an emergency ventilator designed in San Francisco under shelter in place. The Fitbit Flow obtained FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use during the COVID-19 pandemic on June 1, 2020. They will highlight the challenges and opportunities of working remotely to quickly bring this to market.
