Home ›› 13 Apr 2020 ›› Front
A team in Colombia is to test a ventilator made with a Raspberry Pi computer and easy-to-source parts.
The design and computer code were posted online in March by a man in California, who had no prior experience at creating medical equipment.
Marco Mascorro, a robotics engineer, said he built the ventilator because knew the machines were in high demand to treat Covid-19.
His post prompted a flood of feedback from healthcare workers.
"I am a true believer that technology can solve a lot of the problems we have right now specifically in this pandemic," he told the BBC.
The Colombian team said the design was important for their South American country because parts for traditional models could be hard to obtain.
By contrast, Mr Mascorro's design uses only easy-to-find parts - for example, the valves it employs can commonly be found at car and plumbing supply stores.
Mr Mascorro has made the code involved open source, meaning that anyone can use it or modify it without charge.
If all the tests are a success, the aim is to start using mass-produced versions on hospital patients by the middle of the year.
But some doctors remain unconvinced the machine will be up to the task, at least during the current outbreak.
"Anything that can provide a backup can be helpful, but it has to be properly tested to see if it can deliver the oxygen and pressure support," said Dr Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association.
Dr Rizzo added, however, that the project had the potential to eventually yield trustworthy ventilators which could be used during future pandemics.
The Raspberry Pi is a British-made small, low-cost computer board, which was originally created to help teach computer coding.
SOURCE: BBC
