Introducing Project MATIS

Project MATIS Is Now Accepting Applications

Project Overview

Project MATIS (Modular Assessment and Treatment Instructor System) is a modular medical training manikin developed by the IEEE Student Branch at UNC–Chapel Hill for EMT and prehospital education. It combines interchangeable patient components with sensor-based feedback to make simulation more realistic, accessible, and representative.

Motivation

Many programs rely on passive, standardized manikins because high-fidelity and demographically diverse systems are expensive. This limits practice across differences in gender, skin tone, and body type and often forces instructors to narrate findings that trainees cannot observe. MATIS is designed to make those findings discoverable through hands-on assessment.

System Design

A shared electronic core supports interchangeable external modules and measures actions such as CPR, ventilation, airway assessment, and pupil response. The simulator translates those actions into real-time patient changes while an instructor interface records performance and supports debriefing—connecting what the learner does to what the patient displays.The system introduces a modular patient simulation platform that integrates sensor-based physiological feedback with interchangeable physical components representing diverse patient characteristics. By combining objective performance measurement with realistic patient interaction, MATIS seeks to improve both the quality and fairness of medical training.

Project MATIS

2026 Roadmap

A two-semester plan to move MATIS from clinical requirements and an arm prototype toward an integrated torso, patient monitor, and responsive physiology platform.

Completed In progress Planned target

01

Semester 1

Spring 2026

Completed

Milestone 1

Completed

Establish the clinical and technical foundation

Build the partnerships and requirements needed to guide a realistic, useful, and technically achievable training system.

• ✓Establish faculty and EMS partnerships
• ✓Define core training functions and use cases
• ✓Set initial system and technical parameters
• ✓Align requirements with the EMT assessment workflow

Milestone 2

Completed

Develop the arm module

Create the first modular limb prototype with hands-on assessment and trauma-training capabilities.

• ✓Controllable bleeding effect
• ✓Palpable pulse
• ✓Responsive, hands-on blood-pressure measurement
• ✓Bone-fracture simulation
• ✓Finger SpO₂ measurement

Major checkpoint Requirements baseline established and the first functional body module completed.

02

Semester 2

Fall 2026

Current semester

Milestone 3

In progress

Patient monitor and simulation physiology

Create the software layer that generates realistic vitals and physical responses, links learner actions to patient state, and gives instructors direct scenario control.

Implemented and validated so far

• ✓Learner monitor with ECG, pleth, capnography, HR, SpO₂, EtCO₂, RR, and NIBP
• ✓Instructor console with live physiology, scenario controls, alarms, and debrief timeline
• ✓Cardiac, respiratory, hemodynamic, deterioration, CPR, ventilation, AED/defibrillation, ROSC, and hemorrhage models
• ✓Scenario authoring with patient problems, hidden findings, assessment actions, and body-region routing
• ✓Mac instructor–Raspberry Pi learner pairing, live streaming, remote controls, and link recovery
• ✓493 core automated tests passing and an initial physical Mac/Pi validation run completed

Current semester targets

• →Connect simulated vitals to physical manikin responses
• →Integrate torso sensors and actuators with the shared physiology engine
• →Complete GUI, touchscreen, and current Mac/Pi hardware validation
• →Refine scenario workflows through instructor and EMS feedback

Milestone 4

In progress

Develop the torso module

Expand MATIS into an interactive torso for cardiovascular, respiratory, trauma, and resuscitation assessment.

Neck functions

• ○
  Carotid pulse: programmable strength and rhythm, including normal, weak, thready, and tachycardic presentations
• ○
  Jugular venous distention: adjustable visible and/or palpable distention height
• ○
  Tracheal deviation: manual or programmable left/right positioning for advanced trauma assessment

Chest functions

• ○
  Lung sounds: independent upper and lower fields with normal, wheeze, crackle, rhonchi, rales, stridor, diminished, and absent patterns
• ○
  Chest rise: adjustable breathing rate and depth with PPV/BVM or ventilator response and realistic compliance feedback
• ○
  Heart sounds: normal S1/S2, murmurs, muffled tones, tachycardia, and bradycardia
• ○
  Chest compressions: measure rate, depth, recoil, and calculated cardiac output for digital performance feedback
• ○
  Pneumothorax and hemothorax: support needle decompression with simulated gas or fluid release and tactile/visual feedback
• ○
  External bleeding: add programmable bleeding effects for trauma scenarios

Pneumothorax and hemothorax effects are training simulations and do not reproduce actual internal bleeding or pressure changes.

Fall integration goal Demonstrate the torso and patient monitor as one synchronized training system: learner action → sensed input → physiology update → physical and digital response.

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Project Partners