COVID-19: All-girls robotics team invents low-cost ventilator to fight virus

An all-girls robotics team from Afghanistan have recently unveiled an open-source, low-cost ventilator that could help bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic that has hit the nation as well as the globe.  As per reports, the girl’s robotics team took almost 4 months to make the ventilator that is to some extent based on the design by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Low-cost ventilators invented by robotics team

According to reports, the all-female Afghan Robotics Team that made the low-cost ventilators has even won international awards in the past and were assisted by experts from Harvard University during their construction of the ventilator.

While the traditional ventilator costs a whopping $20,000 to produce, the ventilator designed by the girls only costs roughly $700 to produce, is easy to carry and can be powered by a battery for up to 10 hours. The newly designed ventilators must still go through final testing but the invention is still a welcome one in a nation that only has some 800 traditional ventilators and has seen a recent rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalisations.

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As per reports, Health Ministry spokesman Akmal Samsor has stated that once the ventilators pass through the final phase of testing they will be rolled out to multiple hospitals across the country and the designs will also be shared with the World Health Organisation so that it may help other nations that do not have ready access to a vast number of traditional ventilators.

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Read: Testing Kits To Low-Cost Ventilators, How IITs Have Been Instrumental In Battling COVID

According to the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, Afghanistan has reported 35,526 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic but experts believe that the real number may be much higher because of the low testing rates in Afghanistan. The deadly coronavirus [pandemic has infected 14,608,517 people around the world and the global death toll stands at 608,487.

(Representative Image) (Image Credit PTI)