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Raspberry Pi-Powered Ventilator to Be Tested in Colombia


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A prototype of the new ventilator.

A robotics engineer with no prior experience in creating medical equipment developed and posted online plans for a ventilator made from a Raspberry Pi computer and easy-to-source parts.

Credit: Marco Mascorro

Marco Mascorro, a robotics engineer with no prior experience creating medical equipment, developed and posted online plans for a ventilator made from a Raspberry Pi computer and easy-to-source parts.

Now, researchers at Columbia's University Hospital of the Pontifical Xavierian University and Los Andes University are preparing to put the machine through a fast-tracked round of tests so that it may be used to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Raspberry Pi computer is critical to the control of the ventilator; it regulates air pressure, opens and closes valves, and can determine whether a patient needs full or partial breathing assistance.

Said Mascorro, "The beauty of developing a software-centric system is we can make changes to the processes without doing much to the hardware."

From BBC News
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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