We are living in the middle of the emergency over coronavirus all over the world. The reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on societies and economies around the world cannot be understated. Because an estimated 15% of COVID-19 patients require hospitalization and 5% require intensive care (Z. Wu and McGoogan 2020), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has the potential of posing a substantial challenge to medical systems around the world (Remuzzi and Remuzzi 2020; Grasselli, Pesenti, and Cecconi 2020).
Necessity is the mother of invention. A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem. This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is an English-language proverb. It means, roughly, that the primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.
Here are some examples of sort of ingenuity we need now in the middle of pandemia. Already many people contributed those efforts. Check out on those links what is already done if you can find any useful information or can contribute to those efforts you see as good idea. Start your reserach with 7 open hardware projects working to solve COVID-19 article.
I have collected here a list of interesting open hardware project and instructions that can be useful or educational. Hopefully this list I have contributed here will be useful for someone. Keep in mind that many of those ideas are potentially dangerous if the instructions are not entirely correct, implemented exactly right and used by people that know what they are doing. You have been warned: Do not try those at home yourself! We are dealing here with things that can easily injure or kill someone if improperly implemented or used – but at right place the best ideas from those could potentially save lives.
Repairing hospital equipment
The right thing to do in his situation is that medical companies to release service manuals for ALL medical equipment so they can be repaired and maintained where they are most needed.
In the face of ventilator shortages for COVID-19 victims, iFixit is looking to make maintaining and repairing equipment as easy as possible. iFixit Launches Central Repository for Hospital Equipment Repair and Maintenance Manuals
https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
Site http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com offers links many service manuals
Robotics
COVID-19 pandemic prompts more robot usage worldwide article tells that the coronavirus has increased interest in robots, drones, and artificial intelligence, even as some testing of autonomous vehicles pauses on public roads. It is believed that these technologies can help deal with massive staffing shortages in healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chains; the need for “social distancing;” and diagnosis and treatment.
Here are some robotics related links that could be useful:
Medical robotics expert Guang-Zhong Yang calls for a global effort to develop new types of robots for fighting infectious diseases.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/coronavirus-pandemic-call-to-action-robotics-community
Elements of Robotics Open Access Textbook
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-62533-1
Ventilators
A ventilator is a machine designed to provide mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators are sometimes colloquially called “respirators”.
A ventilator, also called a respirator, is designed to provide mechanical ventilation by oxygen into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. The machines can be used to help a person breath if they have conditions making it difficult to breathe, such as lung diseases, during and post-surgery. For patients critically ill with coronavirus access to a ventilator could be a matter of life or death.
In its simplest form, a modern positive pressure ventilator consists of a compressible air reservoir or turbine, air and oxygen supplies, a set of valves and tubes, and a disposable or reusable “patient circuit”. Modern ventilators are electronically controlled by a small embedded system to allow exact adaptation of pressure and flow characteristics to an individual patient’s needs.
They work by placing a tube in a person’s mouth, nose or small cut in the throat and connect it to a ventilator machine. The air reservoir is pneumatically compressed several times a minute to deliver room-air, or in most cases, an air/oxygen mixture to the patient.
Because failure may result in death, mechanical ventilation systems are classified as a life-critical system, and precautions must be taken to ensure that they are highly reliable. Modern commercial ventilator is a relatively complex piece of equipment with lots of components and a dedicated supply chain.
Because there is a lack of ventilators on many hospitals in several countries, there has been a lot of creative work done to help this problem.
There has been projects going on to repair old and non-working ventilators to a working conditions. For repairing some older devices, there has been problem to get spare parts from the manufacturer and that those spare parts can be very expensive. Also getting the service information for repairing those equipment seems to be hard to get from manufacturer, Ifixit has started a project Help commit industrial espionage for the greater good! to get the service information on-line at https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment
In middle of the emergency some people have worked on to make their own spare parts when official parts are not available, thus making more devices available. For example a startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours. An Italian hospital that ran out of life-saving equipment for coronavirus patients was saved by a ‘hero’ engineer who used cutting-edge technology to design oxygen valves within a matter of hours. At least 10 lives were saved in this way.
So great thinking for 3d printing of valves. Are they sterilized and suitable? 3D printing has been used in numerous cases for medical parts already. Most 3D printing operates at relatively high temperatures and printed objects are actually naturally sterilized when they are made. Anyway the right kind of plastic needs to be selected and the part needs to be built in exactly right way that is works reliably as designed. If they are used and the individual gets worse, does the fact that equipment not medical certified (environment, storage, shipping, etc) put the hospital in additional jeopardy for a lawsuit? All valid questions each medical liability officer will have to address. But if people are going to literally die if you do nothing, then taking a risk with a part that you 3D print seems like an idea that is worth to try.
Links:
A startup 3D-printed emergency breathing valves for COVID-19 patients at an Italian hospital in less than 6 hours
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-italian-hospital-3d-printed-breathing-valves-covid-19-patients-2020-3?r=US&IR=T
https://it.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-manca-la-valvola-per-uno-strumento-di-rianimazione-e-noi-la-stampiamo-in-3d-accade-nellospedale-di-chiari-brescia/
Firm ‘refuses to give blueprint’ for coronavirus equipment that could save lives
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/firm-refuses-give-blueprint-coronavirus-equipment-save-lives-12403815/
3D printed life-saving valves: already a dozen in operation
https://www.embodi3d.com/blogs/entry/436-3d-printed-life-saving-valves-already-a-dozen-in-operation/
Volunteers produce 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments
Volunteers made the valves for about $1
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184308/coronavirus-italy-medical-3d-print-valves-treatments
Another tried trick is try to use one ventilator with more than one patient. Daily Mail writes that ventilators can be modified to help FOUR coronavirus patients breathe at the same time if the NHS is still critically short of the machines when the outbreak peaks, scientists say. Here are some links to material on using one ventilator to more than one patient:
https://emcrit.org/pulmcrit/split-ventilators/
SAVING 4 PATIENTS WITH JUST 1 VENTILATOR
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/saving-4-patients-with-just-1-ventilator/
Here has been work going on in creating an open source ventilator design project. Here are some links to this project and some other DIY ventilator designs.
There’s A Shortage Of Ventilators For Coronavirus Patients, So This International Group Invented An Open Source Alternative That’s Being Tested Next Week
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/03/18/theres-a-shortage-of-ventilators-for-coronavirus-patients-so-this-international-group-invented-an-open-source-alternative-thats-being-tested-next-week/
Open-source Oxygen Concentrator
https://reprapltd.com/open-source-oxygen-concentrator/
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/17/designing-a-low-cost-open-source-ventilator-with-arduino/
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Pandemic-Ventilator/
Macgyvilator Mk 1 (3-19-2020) – “ventilator” for disasters and/or low resource environments
Macgyvilator Mk 1 is a disaster “ventilator”, a simple apparatus to compress a bag-valve-mask with some control over tidal volume and rate. Constructed quickly and simply using wood, PVC, velcro, common fasteners, and easily sourced and assembled electronic components.
An Arduino based Open Source Ventilator to Fight against COVID-19?
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/03/21/an-arduino-based-open-source-ventilator-to-fight-against-covid-19/
Low-Cost Open Source Ventilator or PAPR
https://github.com/jcl5m1/ventilator
Low-cost Ventilators
https://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2020/03/low-cost-ventilators.html
Arduino Respirator Prototype (pen source solution from Reesistencia Team, which is undergoing testing)
https://www.facebook.com/official.arduino/videos/2557115014604392/
OxyGEN project
https://oxygen.protofy.xyz
“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.”
NOTE: Take a look at the expression VILI before thinking about trying one of these. It is hard making a ventilator that doesn’t harm the lungs. It is easy to get Ventilator-associated lung injury or die if the ventilator does not work exactly correctly all the time.
Testing for infection
There are many approaches thought to be helpful to finding out if someone is infected or something is contaminated.
Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus. However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever (it can take 2-10 days before infected people get the fewer).
Open-Source Collaboration Tackles COVID-19 Testing
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/10/open-source-collaboration-tackles-covid-19-testing/
Low-cost & Open-Source Covid19 Detection kits
https://app.jogl.io/project/118?
This Open Source Device Can Detect Coronavirus on Surfaces
The Chai team has developed a detection test that works with their Open qPCR tool.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-open-source-device-can-detect-coronavirus-on-surfaces-3da1d7b1c73a
Prevent touching face
It is recommended to stop touching your face to minimize spread of coronavirus and other germs. People touch their faces frequently. They wipe their eyes, scratch their noses, bite their nails and twirl their mustaches.
Not touching your face is a simple way to protect yourself from COVID-19, but it’s not easy. If you can reduce face-touching, you can lower people’s chances of catching COVID-19. Why is it so hard to stop? Face-touching rewards us by relieving momentary discomforts like itches and muscle tension.
If you you want to change, you can try to replace it with a competing response that opposes the muscle movements needed to touch your face. When you feel the urge to touch your face, you can clench your fists, sit on your hands, press your palms onto the tops of your thighs or stretch your arms straight down at your sides. Some sources recommend object manipulation, in which you occupy your hands with something else. You can rub your fingertips, fiddle with a pen or squeeze a stress ball.
Related links:
This pair of Arduino glasses stops you from touching your face
https://blog.arduino.cc/2020/03/10/this-pair-of-arduino-glasses-stops-you-from-touching-your-face/
Don’t Touch Your Face
Don’t touch your face — easy to say, hard to do. This device, worn like a watch, will buzz whenever your hand aims for trouble.
https://www.hackster.io/mike-rigsby/don-t-touch-your-face-e8eac3
Hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer is a liquid or gel generally used to decrease infectious agents on the hands. It depends on the case if hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer is preferred. For Covid-19 WHO recommends to wash your hands with soap and water, and dry them thoroughly. Use alcohol-based handrub if you don’t have immediate access to soap and water.
It seems that there are many places where there is shortage of hand sanitizers. This has lead to situation where people have resorted to making their own. Recipes for DIY hand sanitizer are popping all over the internet. A quick search reveals news articles, YouTube how-to’s and step-by-step visual guides. But think twice about joining them — experts are wary and even caution against the idea. The World Health Organization even has an official guide to making hand sanitizer. But it’s intended for populations that do not have clean water or other medical-grade products in place. Don’t try to make your own hand sanitizer just because there’s a shortage from coronavirus.
Can’t get your hands on hand sanitizer? Make your own
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-make-your-own/
Photos show why hand sanitizer doesn’t work as well as soap and water to remove germs
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-photos-why-you-should-wash-hands-with-soap-water-2020-3?amp
Emergency DIY hand sanitizers (read the description)
“Every time a new health incident occurs there’s a rush on hand sanitizers, often causing shops to sell out.
Here’s how to make some simple emergency sanitizers at home, noting that they are not as effective as just washing your hands, and only some viruses can be damaged by simple sanitizers. These options are offered as a last resort when commercial versions are not available.”
“For the alcohol one the higher the percentage of alcohol the better, up to around 70-80%.”
Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer At Home When It’s Sold Out Everywhere
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/03/make-your-own-hand-sanitizer-at-home-when-its-sold-out-everywhere/
Sanitizing things
With deadly coronavirus spreading worldwide at an alarming speed, personal hygiene has become paramount importance to contain the infection spread further. Mobile phones are known to house several germ, and if you thing they are contaminated, you should maybe disinfect them. The CDC recommends that everyone “clean all “high-touch” surfaces every day” to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
How to Disinfect Your Smartphone article says CDC recommends that for your smartphone you should use 70% rubbing alcohol or alcohol-based disinfectant spray to wipe down the back and sides of your device. For example Apple recently updated its official cleaning advice, so ccording to Apple, it’s now safe to clean your iPhone with disinfecting wipes if you do it correctly. You should not try to spray any liquid to your phone.
The other option is to use a smartphone sanitizer device that cleans using UV rays. Sanitizers that use ultraviolet (UV) rays to kill bacteria and viruses have been around for a while now and they can kill 99% of bacteria in as little as five minutes. However its efficacy hasn’t been tested against nasties like SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Coronavirus effect: Samsung offers UV-C sanitizing service for Galaxy devices. Samsung is using Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) disinfection technology, which uses of uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV-C) light to kill or inactivate bacteria, virus, molds and other pathogenic microorganisms on smartphones.
The UV-C light is capable of destroying nucleic acids and DNA. It will kill many things, but you don’t want that hitting your eye or skin. World Health Organization only states: “UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands, or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.”
Here are some UV C related links:
https://www.light-sources.com/blog/killing-bacteria-with-uv-light/
https://russellsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-gtl3-bulb-simple-and-inexpensive.html?m=1
Good UV versus bad UV. All available on eBay.
Protective masks
The protective mask ratings used by hospitals are typically N95, FFP2 or FFP3. FFP2 protection level is 94%. FFP3 protection level is 99%. N95 protection level is 95%. An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses. The N95 mask is mainly for use if you already have the virus to keep it from spreading and many have argued that coronavirus is smaller than the 0.3 micron filter rating of the mask and thus, not that helpful, for people outside of healthcare. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General wants consumers to stop buying masks.
Due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, there has been a huge shortage of N95 masks. Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation claims that widespread use of masks by the general population could be an effective strategy for slowing down the spread of COVID-19: “Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”.
With masks sold out during the coronavirus outbreak, many people will have to make do with what some scientists have called “the last resort”: the DIY mask. Many people have been working on designs for a DIY mask that may be able to protect those who haven’t been able to secure their own masks. It seems that cotton homemade masks may be quite effective as alternatives and there are also other ideas. For any DIY ideas, be warned that there is no guarantee that those designs are effective. So I don’t recommend to use them as alternative to proper mask when they are available. Bit of proper marks are not available, they can be better than nothing.
Keep in mind the right filter type to use: Hepa filters do have the ability to filter particles and viruses, but they wont protect you 100% of the time. The real secret is layers. The problem is, more layers, more restriction. Keep in mind that charcoal filters will make your air fresher, but have almost no effect on cleaning the air of viruses. Coronavirus virions (or ‘particles’) are spherical particles with diameters of approximately 125 nm (0.125 microns). The smallest particles are 0.06 microns, and the largest are 0.14 microns. This means coronavirus particles are smaller than PM2.5 particles, but bigger than some dust particles and gases.
General information:
Guide to Dust Mask Ratings
https://www.seton.co.uk/your-guide-to-dust-masks-ratings
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
Hengityksensuojaimet
https://www.tays.fi/fi-FI/Ohjeet/Infektioiden_torjunta/Mikrobikohtaiset_ohjeet/Hengityksensuojaimet(51207)
DIY project links:
Homemade N95 Masks In A Time Of Shortage
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/18/homemade-n95-masks-in-a-time-of-shortage/
“According to a studied performed at Cambridge University during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, while surgical masks perform the best at capturing Bacillus atrophaeus bacteria (0.93-1.25 microns) and Bacteriophage MS virus (0.023 microns), vacuum cleaner bags, tea towels, and cotton T-shirts were not too far behind. The coronavirus is 0.1-0.2 microns, well within the range for the results of the tests.”
What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/
“Data shows that DIY and homemade masks are effective at capturing viruses. But if forced to make our own mask, what material is best suited to make a mask? As the coronavirus spread around China, netizens reported making masks with tissue paper, kitchen towels, cotton clothing, and even oranges!”
Can DIY Masks Protect Us from Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/
“DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. Data shows masks work incredibly well, and they’re also really cheap. Surgical masks cost a few pennies, and they’re capable of filtering out 80% of particles down to 0.007 microns (14 times smaller than the coronavirus).”
“The homemade cotton masks captured 50% of 0.02-1 micron particles, compared with 80% for the surgical mask. Although the surgical masks captured 30% more particles, the cotton masks did surprisingly well. The researchers concluded that homemade masks would be better than nothing.”
“The Cambridge data shows that homemade masks made using cotton t-shirts can filter out some particles that are 0.02–1 microns in size. That’s pretty good, however its only one test.”
Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/
Can Masks Protect People from The Coronavirus?
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/coronavirus-pollution-masks-n95-surgical-mask/
This old hack doesn’t require any cutting or sewing:
http://how2dostuff.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-make-ninja-mask-out-of-t-shirt.html
Copper 3D makes the free N95 mask design to fight COVID-19 pandemic spread
https://3dprintingcenter.net/2020/03/18/copper-3d-makes-the-free-n95-mask-design-to-fight-covid-19-pandemic-spread/?fbclid=IwAR2iXJD5ybU8ReADakvCyDKsfzuRDOBEWxZ3ACCjZoz2dKNwvy07htUhon4
“Copper 3D – A Chilean manufacturer of innovative antibacterial filaments designed the own version of the popular N95 protective mask and prepared it perfectly optimized for 3D printing on desktop 3D printers of the FDM / FFF type. The project is released under an open-source license and has been simultaneously patent pending to prevent other entities from commercializing it.”
“Copper 3D team quickly got to work on developing the patent for a model similar to a standard N95 mask but with some peculiarities (Antiviral, Reusable, Modular, Washable, Recyclable, Low-Cost), which were completely designed in a digital environment so that it could be downloaded anywhere in the world and 3D printed with any FDM/FFF equipment, even a low cost one. The mask was called “NanoHack”.”
#HackThePandemic site offers the technical details of the N95 mask and download set of STL files for printing on own 3D printer
https://copper3d.com/HACKTHEPANDEMIC/
SaltMask
https://robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/pub/web/Cookbook.SaltMask.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39956
“This is NOT a straight replacement for a N95 mask. In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Prusa Protective Face Shield – RC2
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25857-prusa-protective-face-shield-rc1
“In a real emergency it is recommended to combine a full face shield with a filter mask.”
Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation
https://medium.com/@matthiassamwald/promoting-simple-do-it-yourself-masks-an-urgent-intervention-for-covid-19-mitigation-14da4100f429
“Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society”
“Potentially, simply wrapping a suitable, large cloth around the face is easy to implement (Fig. 2), would arguably be more socially acceptable than surgical masks, and would be superior to a complete lack of face mask use.”
1,350 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/tag/ventilator/
Macgyvilator Mk 1 (3-19-2020) – “ventilator” for disasters and/or low resource environments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6fWpdXvOYk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1xL1NrnRjTHhGA4iTX3CmxRz6zyvDa2HVwfB8-UHF6yP7BWOhPURBzseI&app=desktop
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open-source Oxygen Concentrator
https://reprapltd.com/open-source-oxygen-concentrator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D printed life-saving valves: already a dozen in operation
https://www.embodi3d.com/blogs/entry/436-3d-printed-life-saving-valves-already-a-dozen-in-operation/
In Italy, young entrepreneurs used their engineering skills with high precision combined with their passion for 3D printing to create 3D printed valves that can be connected to machines to help coronavirus (COVID-19) infected patients breathe.
Chiari Hospital General Manager Mauro Borelli on the phone confirms that not only are the 3D-printed “life-saving” valves working properly, even a second improved model from the first version has been developed, “which generates less friction.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/tag/medical/
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/saving-4-patients-with-just-1-ventilator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/tag/covid-19/
https://hackaday.com/tag/2019-ncov/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/the-corona-clock/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/16/3d-printed-parts-keep-respirators-operational-during-covid-19-epidemic/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can A CPAP Fan Become A Ventilator?
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/18/can-a-cpap-fan-become-a-ventilator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Every Vaccine and Treatment in Development for COVID-19, So Far
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/every-vaccine-treatment-covid-19-so-far/
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket, healthcare researchers around the world are working tirelessly to discover new life-saving medical innovations.
The projects these companies are working on can be organized into three distinct groups:
Diagnostics: Quickly and effectively detecting the disease in the first place
Treatments: Alleviating symptoms so people who have disease experience milder symptoms, and lowering the overall mortality rate
Vaccines: Preventing transmission by making the population immune to COVID-19
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultimate Medical Hackathon: How Fast Can We Design And Deploy An Open Source Ventilator?
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/12/ultimate-medical-hackathon-how-fast-can-we-design-and-deploy-an-open-source-ventilator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Augmented Reality Aids In The Fight Against COVID-19
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/12/augmented-reality-aids-in-the-fight-against-covid-19/
“Know your enemy” is the essence of one of the most famous quotes from [Sun Tzu]’s Art of War, and it’s as true now as it was 2,500 years ago. It also applies far beyond the martial arts, and as the world squares off for battle against COVID-19, it’s especially important to know the enemy: the novel coronavirus now dubbed SARS-CoV-2. And now, augmented reality technology is giving a boost to search for fatal flaws in the virus that can be exploited to defeat it.
https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/data/mixed-reality-nov2019/mrhowto.html
How coronaviruses get into cells
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKNbRRRFhqY&feature=emb_logo
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Reminder Not To Touch Your Face
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/09/a-reminder-not-to-touch-your-face/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open-Source Collaboration Tackles COVID-19 Testing
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/10/open-source-collaboration-tackles-covid-19-testing/
When you think of open source, your mind likely jumps to projects such as Linux, Firefox, and other now-mainstream software. The ideals of the movement are applicable to other areas, too, however – and a group have come together to pool resources to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Low-cost & Open-Source Covid19 Detection kits
https://app.jogl.io/project/118?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Open Ventilator is an open source, Arduino-based project working towards scalable and safe respirators in the fight against COVID-19.
The Open Ventilator
https://en.theopenventilator.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Software engineer Samuel Adranyi is working on a solar-powered, self-sustained, touch-free soap/water dispenser to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the developing world.
Hands-Free Soap and Water Dispenser © MIT
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Sadranyi/hands-free-soap-and-water-dispenser-3baaba
Solar-powered, self-sustaining, touch-less soap and water dispenser to help wash hands in this era of COVID-19.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/05/making-an-arduino-ventilator-read-this-first/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering update on the Tesla ventilator
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zZbDg24dfN0&feature=youtu.be
Tomi Engdahl says:
What we can do to help fight COVID-19
https://www.edn.com/what-we-can-do-to-help-fight-covid-19/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ad&utm_medium=EDNFunFriday-20200403
Since technologists have problem-solving written in our DNA, many of us are discovering that the toughest part of the COVID-19 epidemic is passively sheltering in place, while others put themselves in harm’s way. While not all of us are as brave or as heroic as the medical professionals and first responders, we can give them the tools they need to save more lives, and stay safe while they do it. Engineers, technical professionals, and members of the maker community can step up and join one of the volunteer initiatives to develop and manufacture the things desperately needed by the folks on the front lines.
Remember: No matter what your skill or skill level, there’s a way you can help.
Techies vs. the epidemic
Most of the projects underway use the proven frameworks and tools used by many other open-source hardware and software development efforts. Their outputs can be as simple as plans for fabric medical masks and 3D-printed face shields that can be sewn or printed at home and donated through various service organizations. Still others are harnessing the collective skills of design engineers from all disciplines to help create open-source designs for ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and other medical equipment that can be manufactured quickly and inexpensively.
The number of initiatives is growing so quickly that no single article can list them all.
Most of the earliest responses to the shortages were open-source plans for protective gear that could stand in for the rapidly dwindling stockpiles of commercial equipment.
Calling all designers
If you’re looking to get involved with an open-source project at the design level, you should spend some time on the Open Source COVID 19 Medical Supplies (OSCMS) website. It contains an extensive library of open-source designs for PPE (face masks, face shields, and powered respirators) and medical supplies, such as nasal cannulas, nasal catheters, and flow splitters for oxygen supplies that have been carefully reviewed for safety and effectiveness.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-71FJTmI1Q1kjSDLP0EegMERjg_0kk_7UfaRE4r66Mg/preview#heading=h.6rcgzhjv3lfe
Tomi Engdahl says:
AN ARDUINO-FREE AUTOMATIC ALCOHOL ADMINISTRATOR
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/05/an-arduino-free-automatic-alcohol-administrator/
With all the hands-free dispenser designs cropping up out there, the maker world could potentially be headed for an Arduino shortage. We say that in jest, but it’s far too easy to use an Arduino to prototype a design and then just leave it there doing all the work, even if you know going in that it’s overkill.
[ASCAS] took up the challenge and built a cheap and simple dispenser that relies on recycled parts and essential electronics. It uses an IR proximity sensor module to detect dirty digits, and a small submersible pump to push isopropyl alcohol, sanitizer, or soap up to your hovering hand.
https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Automatic-Alcohol-Dispenser-No-Arduino-Needed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tesla shows how it’s building ventilators with car parts
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/05/tesla-shows-how-its-building-ventilators-with-car-parts/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suojavisiirin prototyyppi syntyi muutamassa tunnissa ja valmistus alkoi seuraavana päivänä – yrityksissä tehdään nyt tuotekehittelyn nopeusennätyksiä
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11288588
Markkinoiden muutokseen pystytään reagoimaan nopeasti varsinkin pk-yrityksissä. Niissä päätöksenteko on tarvittaessa hyvinkin notkeaa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Universal mask-wearing is the most overlooked COVID-19 lifesaver
https://www.maskssavelives.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Thermal Scanner Warns You Know If Someone Might Have a Fever
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-thermal-scanner-warns-you-know-if-someone-might-have-a-fever-2216f26e0668
Gilbert François’ DIY device estimates human body temperature using an MLX90640 infrared camera connected to a Raspberry Pi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What we can do to help fight COVID-19
https://www.edn.com/what-we-can-do-to-help-fight-covid-19/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seeed Studio Builds an Ultra-Low-Cost Live-View Thermal Camera Using a Wio Terminal and IR Sensor
https://www.hackster.io/news/seeed-studio-builds-an-ultra-low-cost-live-view-thermal-camera-using-a-wio-terminal-and-ir-sensor-1564d7dd9e19
Taking a cheap 8×8 thermal sensor and interpolating it to 70×70, the Wio Terminal makes for a great low-cost thermal camera.
Tomi Engdahl says:
See how your community is moving around differently due to COVID-19
https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This portable, Arduino-powered device uses UVGI and dry heat to disinfect face masks from SARS-CoV.
Face-Masks Disinfection Device — needlab © CC BY-NC-SA
UV-C / heat, Arduino-controlled, face-mask disinfecting device for Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/user66015547/face-masks-disinfection-device-needlab-3ed2f5
FFP1 and FFP2 masks are indispensable protective elements during epidemics. They are intended for single-use, but during a crisis the re-usage is inevitable and disinfection mechanisms are required (1). During the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, hospitals, healthcare centers, and research facilities have implemented different mechanisms of disinfection for these masks, usually involving ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) and/or heat of some sort.
The need for a viable method of disinfection of face masks is further increased by evidence of SARS-CoV-2 being extremely stable on the surface of surgical masks even after 7 days (2).
This project intends to create a low budget and portable device that can effectively use UVGI and dry heat to disinfect face masks from SARS-CoV virions and that can be easily reproduced by people who need
Device set up diagram
● Temperature must be maintained in the range 65+/-5°C
● The lamp must provide UV-C wavelength.
● The disinfection cycle duration is minimum of 30 minutes. (recommendation: Not more than 30 min in order to have a safer range to avoid potential face-mask degradation and loss of functionality.)
Disclaimer: This document falls under the “Good Samaritan Law”.
Original publication: http://www.needlab.org/face-masks-disinfection-device
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global Status Board Keeps Eye On COVID-19 Situation
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/06/global-status-board-keeps-eye-on-covid-19-situation/
https://hackaday.io/project/170735-covid-19-tracker
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brainstorming COVID-19 Hack Chat
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/06/brainstorming-covid-19-hack-chat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FDA Says PPE Can Be Reused After Trip Through Shipping Container Decontamination System
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/02/fda-says-ppe-can-be-reused-after-trip-through-shipping-container-decontamination-system/
We are hearing so much in the news about shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for healthcare workers. Factories are being asked to perform the impossible when it comes to production be the need is so real, so immediate, and so widespread.
The problem with rapid consumption of PPE is that once it has been exposed to infection, it’s contaminated and can’t be used again. Physically it may be fine, but it retains the capability to infect other people. If there were some way it could be effectively cleaned and decontaminated for re-use, it would reduce the strain on the supply chain and result in a greater availability of PPE for all those who require it.
This is the promise of Battelle’s Critical Care Decontamination System, a shipping-container-sized unit which has received approval from the FDA at break-neck speed.
Hydrogen Peroxide: It’s Not Just For Rockets
All this is most impressive and has the potential to be a game-changer for hard-pressed hospitals in the thick of the epidemic, but it is dangerous to latch onto any one solution and long-term the best solution will still be to build up a sustained manufacturing effort all PPE that is in short supply.
https://www.battelle.org/inb/battelle-critical-care-decontamination-system-for-covid19
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/05/an-arduino-free-automatic-alcohol-administrator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
COVID-19 Tech Bits
Tech fights COVID-19 with AI, 3D printing, supercomputers, simulation & wearables
https://semiengineering.com/covid-19-tech-bits/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook’s automated systems may have blocked organizers of DIY face mask hand sewing efforts; Facebook says it was in error and is working to resolve the issue
Facebook Hampers Do-It-Yourself Mask Efforts
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/technology/coronavirus-facebook-masks.html
The social network said it had made an “error” in threatening to ban the organizers of hand-sewn masks from posting or commenting on its site.
As health workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic plead for personal protective equipment, volunteer efforts to create hand-sewn masks and deliver them to medical professionals have quickly sprung up across the internet.
But those efforts were hampered by Facebook’s automated content moderation systems over the past week, according to sewing organizers who have used the social network to coordinate donation campaigns.
Facebook’s systems threatened to ban the organizers of hand-sewn masks from posting or commenting, they said, landing them in what is colloquially known as “Facebook Jail.” They said it also threatened to delete the groups. The issue has affected do-it-yourself mask makers in states like Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, they said.
Facebook has long struggled to distinguish between innocuous and malicious content on its site.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Euroopassa tehdään yhteistyötä tartuntaketjuja jäljittävän mobiilisovelluksen kehittämiseksi, mutta lopulta Suomi luo oman sovelluksensa
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11295000
Suomessa kaksi ohjelmistoyritystä kehittää yhteistyössä sovellusta digitaaliseen kontaktien kartoitukseen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers develop emergency ventilator based on resuscitation bags used in ambulances
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/06/researchers-develop-emergency-ventilator-based-on-resuscitation-bags-used-in-ambulances/?tpcc=ECFB2020
The need for innovative solutions to address shortages in crucial medical equipment is greater than ever, and a new initiative from a global team of biomedical engineering experts is a perfect example. The team developed a way for resuscitation bags – common pieces of equipment carried by ambulances and paramedics around the world, and typically in strong supply at hospitals – to be repurposed as emergency ventilator hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Studying animal coronavirus defences is opening route to human treatments
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/studying-animal-coronavirus-defences-opening-route-human-treatments.html#utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=zoonotic
A team that has spent the last five years developing a pipeline of technologies that can churn out a remedy for almost any newly emerging virus may have treatments ready for safety trials on Covid-19 patients by the end of the year.
The 20-strong private-public collaboration has been pooling and connecting a series of diverse technologies to build a fast pipeline where the genetic code of a new virus can be plugged in at one end – and thousands of vaccines or antibodies can emerge at the other just a few months later.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Battelle Earns FDA EUA for Decontaminating Respirator Masks
https://www.mddionline.com/battelle-earns-fda-eua-decontaminating-respirator-masks?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=12856&elq_cid=876648
Using vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide, a single Critical Care Decontamination System could process up to 80,000 respirator masks daily.
FDA has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Battelle’s CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System for processing up to 80,000 respirator masks per system each day.
CCDS employs concentrated, vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide (VPHP) for decontamination. The system has been validated to decontaminate masks of SARS-CoV-2, the company reported.
The masks are placed on shelves inside a container, and a portable, external VPHP system is hooked up to the outside of container.
The FDA study showed that VPHP decontamination using the same system parameters and critical end points as the current system resulted in 6-log reduction of G. stearothermophilus while not degrading the filter performance of N95 respirators for multiple decontamination cycles, Battelle reported in a news release.
“We have proven that VPHP is effective at decontaminating N95 respirator masks up to 20 times at large scale,” said Matt Vaughan, president of contract research at Battelle. The masks are exposed to the validated concentration level for 2.5 hours to decontaminate biological contaminates, including SARS-CoV-2, the company reported.
Battelle is currently examining whether other supplies such as surgical masks and ventilator components can be decontaminated using this process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Siemens Developing New Diagnostic for COVID-19
https://www.mddionline.com/siemens-developing-new-diagnostic-covid-19
The Erlangen, Germany-based company said its Fast Track Diagnostics (FTD) SARS-COV-2 Assay is already being shipped in Europe for research use only. Siemens Healthineers is looking at speaking with FDA to release the test under Emergency Use Authorization.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.mddionline.com/top-40-medical-device-companies
Tomi Engdahl says:
What we can Learn About COVID-19 from Apollo 13
What can be learned from the viral coincidences and technical readiness of the Apollo 13 crisis compared with the coronavirus pandemic?
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/what-we-can-learn-about-covid-19-apollo-13/111232908862713?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=12859&elq_cid=876648
Aside from the engineering resourcefulness in safely bringing the spaceship home, the Apollo 13 mission was notable for its illnesses. First, one of the original astronauts – Ken Mattingly – was replaced by Jack Swigert one day before the launch.
Interestingly, the first mixed measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was licensed for public use by Merck in 1971 – a year after the Apollo 13 incident. The standalone rubella vaccination had been available from the mid-1960s, but only following many years of research, development and testing.
Does the story of the Apollo 13 crisis reveal anything useful in dealing with COVID-19?
First, it serves as a reminder that viruses and other bio-medical challenges have and will (probably) forever continue to plague humankind. Secondly, the way we prepare before and perform during a crisis makes all the difference.
The saving grace of Apollo 13 – aside from the experience and bravery of the 3 astronauts – was the thousands of NASA flight controllers and engineers scattered across the U.S.
At the time, it may have appeared to the outside world that MacGyver or Scotty from Star Trek were working at NASA, using their inventive genius to quickly find an on-the-fly solution. Instead, it was the ground team of engineers that worked round the clock to both bring the crippled spacecraft back home while also hacking together a stop-gap carbon dioxide scrubbing canister, so the crew didn’t die of carbon dioxide poisoning. The amazing success of this technical effort was the result of years of training, education, teamwork, discipline, and investment.
Today, we are witnessing a similar technical effort put forth by the world’s open software and hardware, 3D Printing and academic communities to deal with COVID-19. Although impressive, this engineering support is far less organized, less financially supported and greatly scaled down from its Apollo 13 counterpart.
While the engineering profession can often find quick technological solutions to a variety of problems, the same cannot be said of the bio-medical industry. This is in part because of the necessary regulations and testing needed to ensure that any solution is safe for the human community.
It often takes up to 10 years to develop a vaccine from scratch and involves a combination of public and private involvement.
The real problem with the past success of vaccines and flu vaccinations is that they seem to breed complacency. The lack of a wide-spread, pandemic-level virus outbreak has given some governments a false sense of security. In turn, this has led to poor decisions like the cutting of or diverting of budges for virus research and vaccine productions to other sometimes politically motivated expenditures.
The result is that today’s bio-medical and health communities are in poor shape to prepare or handle the next major viral epidemic, little lone a pandemic.
It is doubtful there will be a quick fix vaccine for COVID-19 that really works. This means that the Apollo 13 rallying cry of “failure is not an option” has turned into “failure may well be an option” for the COVID-19 pandemic. But failure can be a great teacher if you survive to learn and act on the lessons. Perhaps our best hope is to quickly learn from our mistakes so that we are prepared when the next bio-medical crisis comes our way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This LED Face Mask Warns Others to Stay Away and Responds to Voice
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-led-face-mask-warns-others-to-stay-away-and-responds-to-voice-1798bfb47d00
Chelsea Klukas made a more fashion-forward mask, with social distance warnings and an equalizer effect.
With the COVID-19 epidemic currently unfolding, many have started wearing masks in public for protection. To make things a bit more interesting, Chelsea Klukas of Lumen Couture has created one that lights up with various LED patterns and words, and can even graph out volume levels as a VU meter.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAwOimNzb0#
Tomi Engdahl says:
COVID-19 DATA HUB
Access, analyze and
stay informed.
Trusted Coronavirus (COVID-19) global data from our community experts.
https://www.tableau.com/covid-19-coronavirus-data-resources?utm_campaign=Awareness-CORE-ALL-ALL-ALL-ALL&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_source=Facebook&utm_campaign_id=2017049&utm_language=EN&utm_country=NOR&adgroup=WEB-All+Other&adused&creative=COVIDbluebars
Tomi Engdahl says:
WHO Africa hosts hackathons, offers seed funds to fight COVID-19
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/06/who-africa-hosts-hackathons-offers-seed-funds-to-fight-covid-19/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
FDA Says PPE Can Be Reused After Trip Through Shipping Container Decontamination System
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/02/fda-says-ppe-can-be-reused-after-trip-through-shipping-container-decontamination-system/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Intel, Mozilla, and Creative Commons join the Open COVID Pledge, an effort to make IP freely available for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of COVID-19
Intel, Mozilla, and others join pledge to make IP freely available to fight coronavirus
https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/07/intel-mozilla-creative-commons-join-pledge-to-make-ip-freely-available-to-fight-coronavirus/
A consortium of organizations including Intel, Mozilla, and Creative Commons have joined the Open COVID Pledge, an effort led by legal experts and scientists to make intellectual property (IP) available for the fight against COVID-19. The aim is to bolster cooperation in pursuit of an end to the coronavirus pandemic; companies, institutions, and universities will give free licenses to their patents, copyrights, and certain other property rights to anyone developing technologies for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of COVID-19.
The licenses in question are effective December 1, 2019, and they’ll last until a year after the World Health Organization declares the coronavirus pandemic to be over. Companies who make the pledge must adopt the Open COVID license, create a custom license that accomplishes the intent of the pledge, or identify existing licenses that accomplish the pledge’s goal.
According to Mark Lemley, the director of the Stanford University program in law, science, and technology, the COVID Pledge is intended to prevent researchers and entrepreneurs from being sued for tools they create during the pandemic. Once things return to normal, the hope is that companies will work together to come up with commercially reasonable license terms, but they’re able to return to owning and asserting their intellectual property if they choose.
Creative Commons says it will continue to work with these and other experts to create a framework that allows the development of diagnostic tools, treatment, and preventative solutions — and possibly even a cure or vaccine — to halt the spread of COVID-19.
“We are … giving COVID-19 scientists and researchers free access to Intel’s vast worldwide intellectual property portfolio — one of the world’s largest — in the hope and belief that making this intellectual property freely available to them will save lives,” said Intel executive vice president and general counsel Steven Rodgers in a blog post. “
Intel Grants Free Access to its Intellectual Property to Covid19 Researchers and Scientists
https://blogs.intel.com/csr/2020/04/open-covid-pledge/#gs.37iohl
Tomi Engdahl says:
NBC News:
Inside the global efforts to build a privacy-conscious COVID-19 tracking app, with experts contributing from the US, UK, Australia, Switzerland, and elsewhere — The hope is that smartphone tracking — combined with widespread testing — can help create a framework for cities to let people resume their lives.
Behind the global efforts to make a privacy-first coronavirus tracking app
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/behind-global-efforts-make-privacy-first-coronavirus-tracking-app-n1177871
The hope is that smartphone tracking — combined with widespread testing — can help create a framework for cities to let people resume their lives.
In a Google Doc that now stretches beyond 20 pages, software engineers and health experts are working out what they hope can be a way for the world to soon return to something resembling normal life.
“What’s the minimum duration of contact that we should consider important?” an engineer asked.
It’s one of many crucial questions from engineers who believe smartphone technology could be the key to creating a way to anonymously track the spread of the coronavirus — and by doing so help save lives and get people back to their jobs and social lives.
“There are people who have been waiting their entire lives for a problem that can be solved by exactly the right algorithm,
an informal group of like-minded experts called stop-covid.tech. “And those people are springing to work.”
Versions of coronavirus tracking apps already exist in China, Singapore, Israel and elsewhere, but the lack of privacy protections worries many technologists in the U.S. and Europe, who are looking to build their own.
Eckersley, based in Australia, is helping to coordinate the far-flung efforts through the Google Doc.
More than a dozen clusters of experts, scattered in cities including Seattle, London and Lausanne, Switzerland, are working on some form of voluntary smartphone-based tracking technology to provide app notifications to people who may have been exposed to the virus and need to isolate themselves.
The projects to trace contacts have names like COVID Watch, NextTrace and Corona Trace, and they’re conferring with one another and with epidemiologists online over Google Docs, Slack and the software repository GitHub.
The semi-coordinated efforts come as there are some signs in Europe and the U.S. that social distancing has helped turn the tide against the coronavirus — but also evidence in parts of Asia that a second wave of the virus remains a risk.
The hope is that smartphone tracking — combined with widespread testing — can help create a framework for cities to let people resume their lives while keeping a close watch on a resurgence of the coronavirus.
The efforts are also the subject of growing scrutiny from privacy advocates and some health care experts who question the efficacy of such systems. To be effective, an app would need to be downloaded by a significant percentage of the population.
But tech experts remain optimistic about putting a new tool in the hands of everyday phone users with a voluntary app that would silently and anonymously use Bluetooth technology to ping phones nearby — without sharing personal data with the government or other third parties.
Pentland said that public health authorities have a growing number of software tools to track how the virus is spreading and that a voluntary smartphone app would give people more information if they want it.
The science behind many of the apps isn’t new. An app could remember which other phones have been nearby. If someone you had coffee with two days ago tests positive for the coronavirus, you would get a notification along the lines of “you may have recently been exposed” — and advising temporary isolation. Passing someone on the sidewalk wouldn’t be enough to trigger a notification, but sitting next to each other for 10 or 15 minutes might.
There is some disagreement on key details. Should a smartphone app use Bluetooth technology, which senses the proximity of nearby phones, or cellular network and GPS data?
What they do agree on is that it should be a voluntary app — something that people willingly agree to. In Israel and China, a technological approach to fighting COVID-19 has meant surveillance by the government and the central collection of mass amounts of personal location data.
The projects surveyed by NBC News would avoid that by making sure any data would stay on users’ phones. The data would be encrypted, and no government could access it at a later point.
It isn’t clear how federal health authorities will respond. App developers said they haven’t gotten clear guidance from the CDC or elsewhere.
Versions of coronavirus tracking apps already exist in parts of Asia.
Singapore has launched a contact tracing mobile app, called TraceTogether, and said it would provide the computer code openly to others, although U.S. researchers said that Singapore hadn’t yet published the underlying code and that the app wasn’t designed to minimize data collection.
“Their privacy model doesn’t fit with the way we would like things to be done, and I would hope things would be done in the U.S. in a better way,”
In Israel, around 1.5 million people had signed up by last week for an app called HaMagen — Hebrew for “The Shield.” Personal data doesn’t leave the phone, developers say, but the government publishes the movements of people diagnosed with the coronavirus using information from a counterterrorism database.
Surveillance in China is even more extreme, with the government using Alipay, a payments app, to provide people with a QR code that’s green, yellow or red depending on their status: green meaning healthy and free to move about, or yellow and red for different levels of quarantine restrictions.
In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service, the country’s health care provider, is developing its own app
“There’s really never been a time in history where a clever app means the difference between widespread calamity and people being able to go about their lives,”
allowing only hospital staff members to authorize someone to identify on the app as having tested positive — but Calo said there are too many other ways an app could go wrong.
In general, the use of proximity or location data has alarmed human rights advocates. Amnesty International and more than 100 other organizations have issued a statement calling for limits on how governments use surveillance, including mobile phone location data, to fight the coronavirus.
There’s no official launch date for an American app. Some developers said that one could, in theory, be ready for deployment in a couple of weeks, especially if health authorities signaled their support, but that the whole project depends on the widespread availability of cheap and easy testing — which isn’t available yet in the U.S. or many other countries.
Even app developers believe their tools would need to be widely used to be truly useful. Eckersley said 20 percent might be a viable threshold depending on how an app is designed, but getting 1 in 5 smartphone users to download an app voluntarily is still a tall order.
“This needs to be an effort where there’s public buy-in, public trust, where people feel like they need to do this for the population, but also it’s safe for them to do this,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sijainti
Etusivu > Uutinen > 3D-tulostimilla nopeasti osia koronasuojaimiin
3D-tulostimilla nopeasti osia koronasuojaimiin
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/04/07/3d-tulostimilla-nopeasto-osia-koronasuojaimiin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Official Government COVID-19 Mobile Apps Hide a Raft of Threats
https://threatpost.com/official-government-covid-19-apps-threats/154512/
Security researchers at the ZeroFOX Alpha Team have uncovered various
privacy concerns and security vulnerabilities including a backdoor in
various apps. The apps are either created and endorsed by countries or
invented as one-offs by threat actors to take advantage of the current
pandemic, according to a blog post published Monday.. Original at
https://www.zerofox.com/blog/covid-19-mobile-apps/. Also
https://www.androidcentral.com/google-nukes-all-coronavirus-android-apps-play-store
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/apple-rejects-coronavirus-apps-that-arent-from-health-organizations.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
How One Engineer is Supporting the Coronavirus Response with a Hands-Free Door Opener
https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/stories/blog/36509?utm_source=TB_Main_News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200407&oly_enc_id=2460E0071134A8V
A “foot opener” on one of the doors of Diegel’s Creative Design and Additive Manufacturing Lab at the University of Auckland. “Surprisingly it did not require a huge amount of effort to open by foot,” Diegel told Tech Briefs.
Diegel, an instructor of Additive Manufacturing (AM) at the University of Auckland, is now creating technologies to help contain the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19, including face shields and a hands-free, foot-operated door opener.
The “foot opener” clips onto the bottom of the door and, if necessary, can be locked on and hand-tightened with two bolts.
Then, just step on it.
“I always believe that the simpler something is, the better it works,” Diegel told Tech Briefs. “So, this one is about as simple as it gets.”
What role should 3D printing play in the creation of these kinds of protective medical products?
Prof. Olaf Diegel: If a part is not specifically designed for 3D printing then, chances are, that there are more cost-effective ways to make it. It’s also why I am not being obsessive about using 3D printing for personal protective equipment (PPE). If it can be done with a laser cutter instead, that tends to be a much faster and cost-effective method to make it. Only use 3D printing if it truly adds value to what you are doing.
In some cases 3D printing may add enough value to be worthwhile to make a single item for yourself, but not to make hundreds or thousands. In other cases, like the relatively complex venture PEEP valves used in ventilators, 3D printing may absolutely be the way to manufacture them.
And that’s probably the main advice I would give to engineers that are looking to design parts for 3D printing. Learn the basic design-for-additive-manufacturing rules: Things like minimizing the amount of material used, design to minimize post-processing, increase functionality by consolidating several parts into one or by making the component 90% lighter than the original one.
What inspired the creation of the hands-free door opener?
Prof. Diegel: The foot opener was mainly inspired by the need to avoid the transmission of COVID-19 through the hands which, I understand, are one of the most common ways these diseases are transmitted when the hands touch the face.
There have been quite a few open-source arm-based door openers popping up around the world, so I thought it might be good to have a foot-operated version for those who want to avoid the problem altogether.
I have also done an arm-operated one , which I have offered to print for anyone in New Zealand who needs it.
The products were designed for powder bed fusion 3D printing technologies (selective laser sintering ), as these are the technologies most suitable for producing large number of parts in a single print. They are printed in nylon. However, it would not be hard to modify the designs slightly to make them printable with extrusion technologies and desktop printers. The CAD models were put together so that they can almost instantly be modified to be adaptable for the many door handle shapes out there.
What other inventions are you working on to support coronavirus-response efforts?
Prof. Diegel: I am also working on a number of other PPE devices, focusing mostly on designing them so that they are efficient to manufacture in large quantities if needed.
There are plenty of open-source products out there now, but most are designed for making a one-off device for personal use (which is fantastic) but not for larger manufacturability.
I have also been putting together a small library of the many open-source COVID-19 designs (ventilators, PEEP valves, face masks and shields, swabs, etc.) that have been springing up all around the world
Tomi Engdahl says:
Medical Robots’ Role Expands as COVID-19 Outbreak Continues
https://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/tb/stories/blog/36596?utm_source=TB_Main_News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200407&oly_enc_id=2460E0071134A8V