The open-source hardware community wants to change that.
Joshua Pearce, Richard Witte Endowed Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is an open-source hardware expert and co-editor-in-chief of computer science vs engineering a leading open-source scientific hardware journal.
"The research on open-source ventilators is not new, but when it started a decade ago the technology was not there. Now it is, and we have substantial motivation, and we just need to bring all the information together," Pearce said, explaining that 3D-printed lab hardware and other open-source tech can be cost-effective and encourages design improvement. "Even complex medical devices are not outside the realm of possibility anymore."
Pearce, who runs the Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology (MOST) Lab, has joined the Michigan Tech Open Source Initiative, which collaborates with groups like the 9,000+ strong Helpful Engineers, made up of makers, hackers, medical personnel, engineers and other researchers from around the world. Many perspectives converge on a single goal: getting 3D-printed, open-source ventilators and other medical hardware where they're needed to overcome COVID-19.
However, technological expertise is not the same as medical expertise (and a key validation test for open-source ventilators requires a lab with a synthetic lung -; not something most people keep around their makerspace). The end goal is medical-grade, low-cost designs, which can be made using distributed manufacturing technologies, like 3D printing or circuit milling systems, by anyone who needs them locally. To use them, the medical community needs certainty that an open-source design will operate as intended and do no harm.
Joshua Pearce, Richard Witte Endowed Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is an open-source hardware expert and co-editor-in-chief of computer science vs engineering a leading open-source scientific hardware journal.
"The research on open-source ventilators is not new, but when it started a decade ago the technology was not there. Now it is, and we have substantial motivation, and we just need to bring all the information together," Pearce said, explaining that 3D-printed lab hardware and other open-source tech can be cost-effective and encourages design improvement. "Even complex medical devices are not outside the realm of possibility anymore."
Pearce, who runs the Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology (MOST) Lab, has joined the Michigan Tech Open Source Initiative, which collaborates with groups like the 9,000+ strong Helpful Engineers, made up of makers, hackers, medical personnel, engineers and other researchers from around the world. Many perspectives converge on a single goal: getting 3D-printed, open-source ventilators and other medical hardware where they're needed to overcome COVID-19.
However, technological expertise is not the same as medical expertise (and a key validation test for open-source ventilators requires a lab with a synthetic lung -; not something most people keep around their makerspace). The end goal is medical-grade, low-cost designs, which can be made using distributed manufacturing technologies, like 3D printing or circuit milling systems, by anyone who needs them locally. To use them, the medical community needs certainty that an open-source design will operate as intended and do no harm.
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