The artificial womb. Slowly but surely this development is coming into society. With its succes in maturing a lamb outside of the natural womb the debate has begun on how this technology could be implemented in our society. No human trials have been done yet, but with the knowledge that its possible we should prepare this question. 

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The technological questions are under complete investigation, searching for the most optimal solution to every risk such as the exit-procedure (moving the baby from the natural to the artificial womb) and preparing for possible psylogical risks. One element that came under our attention was that the societal and parental view on the development was near to none existent. Due to a limited test group we cannot deliver an answer to the question "Does society want this development in there lifes?". Instead, through interviewing parents with premature children, we are trying to deliver a set of design guidelines for the artificial womb. What did the parents like and dislike in their experience with the incubator and how would they like to see these aspects in the artificial womb?

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In the end, the main goal is to understand the preferences of parents to develop design guidelines for the artificial womb and create the most reassuring, comforting experience for the parents. In the interviews, the feeling of distance comes forth from the lack of reassurance of the well-being of their child combined with the inability to help the child. If these elements are addressed and relieved, the stress-level of parents can be reduced. The guidelines therefore are designed towards tackling the twofold cause of parental stress. Since the guidelines are validated on medical terms by an expert, they provide a valuable basis for the future development of the artificial womb.

Project with Iris Berden, Mary Han and Stefan Groothedde, students Industrial Design TU/e