Work-in-Progress: DIY Ventilator - A CoVID-19 Action
In the Covid-19 pandemic, ventilators became scarce, especially in countries with lower medical standards. A special project has managed to develop a complete ventilator as a kit using cheap parts and 3D printers. In the first two phases of the project a demonstrator has been developed which allows first tests. With hands-on experiments, one can already control the ventilator together with an artificial lung and learn how the ventilator works and what types of pumps, sensors, and electronic components are necessary for this. Due to its multidisciplinary character this project provides an excellent basis for the elaboration of educational and instructional material. Disciplines addressed comprise among others: informatics, physics, mathematics, biochemistry, medicine, material science, and electronics. In addition, the use of tools is demonstrated on a wide range covering 3D printing, IDEs for software development, wiring and soldering, etc. The knowledge gained through this project could be used for setting up a startup enterprise or as reference when starting research in the Edge Computing or IoT domain. The education and training will be carried out in small groups (four persons ideally) using a system for blended learning. It is envisaged to use the Mediathread Development [1] from the Columbia University which provides an excellent framework for the flipped classroom approach. Besides the academic domain also industries are the target for using the educational material which will be delivered by the project.
