Open Source Portable Origami-Inspired Ventilators

The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide and remains a challenge that humanity must still overcome. As hospitals continue to admit critical patients, they may face medical equipment shortages that may hinder life-saving treatments, especially in developing regions. We seek to combat this potential equipment shortage by presenting a proof-of-concept portable automated ventilator that is: affordable, simple, lightweight, and easy to fabricate.

As an open-source project, we are happy to share all the design files, instructions, and the software on: https://github.com/WPI-SoftRobotics/Open-Ori-Vent. We hope that you can make your own origami-inspired ventilators and improve on our prototypes based on these instructions! For the current designs, laser cutters and 3D printers are necessary, although these parts could be cut/printed elsewhere and then mailed to the destination for assembly.

We would like to include a warning and disclaimer here: Please check the full disclaimer as well before proceeding. The material and documentation are provided with no warranties explicit or implied. No material is intended to provide medical advice. All designs are intended for investigational use only. This work does not represent any official policies or procedures. The project is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.