An all-girls robotics team invented an inexpensive new ventilator model that will help the thousands of Covid-19 patients in their homeland (Good News Network). The Afghan Robotics Team, which has won international awards for its robots, started work in March when the pandemic hit the war-torn nation (Reuters). The ventilator can be replicated for as little as US $700, where normally ventilators sell for around US$20,000 (Free Malaysia Today). The lightweight machine can be powered by batteries that can run for ten hours (Good News Network).
It took the team almost four months to finalize the ventilator, which is partly based on a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) design (Reuters). The team is a part of a bigger group of high-achieving high school girls known as the “Afghan Dreamers”, from the western city of Herat (Free Malaysia Today). “All members of our team feel happy because after months of hard work, we were able to achieve this result.” said Somaya Faruqi, a team member (Good News Network). Health Ministry spokesman Akmal Samsor said once the ventilators were approved they would be rolled out in Afghan hospitals (Reuters).
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-afghanistan-ventil/afghan-all-girls-robotics-team-designs-low-cost-ventilator-to-treat-coronavirus-patients-idUSKCN24L0WO
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2020/04/18/robot-designing-girls-to-build-ventilator-from-used-car-parts/
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/all-girl-robotics-team-creates-ventilator-to-aid-afghan-covid-19-efforts/