Yesterday an acquaintance I know Gui Cavalcanti was recognized for participating in a volunteer open source effort to design breathing ventilators for those that may need them due to the COVID-19 virus. Its a blend of makers and engineers creating mechanical designs and the 3D printing parts.
The Futuristic Solutions the Internet is Crowdsourcing to Cure Coronavirus – Newsweek
“A Facebook group called Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies, which consists of over 13,000 members, is trying to find solutions to the pandemic by creating open-source ventilators, as well as medicine and supply guides. The group was created on March 10 by MegaBots founder Gui Cavalcanti released the first version of its open-source medical supply guide on March 18. The group's significant growth has spread worldwide, with a strong focus on Ireland and Portugal. Some leaders in the group are beginning to focus more on the Middle East.”
After this I was made aware of another open source design and make effort named OxyGEN Project.
“OxyGEN is an open hardware project to build an emergency mechanism that automates an AMBU type manual ventilator in extreme shortage situations such as the one caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in some parts of the world.
Drawings and instructions are available free of charge. It can be built in a few hours, without prior training or specialized tools. All the parts that make up OxyGEN are easy to get anywhere in the world. It just takes a little ingenuity, a wiper motor, and a few basic materials.
OxyGEN is designed to ease workload on the health personnel. This is not a medical device and there is still a lot of work to be done in refining its design - it is a first step. OxyGEN must always be used under medical supervision.
The project was born in March 2020, in the midst of a health crisis caused by the coronavirus (sars-cov-2). Its purpose is to respond to the possibility of a lack of emergency ventilators in health systems around the world.”
YouTube: https://youtu.be/0386hOgcQTA
Do you have some spare energy and design cycles to help or know someone you can point to in helping make a difference or someone needing it?
This is so awesome to see how people from around the world can come together and can solve big challenges that matter!
