At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, I was the main mechanical designer in the development of a low-cost ventilator first meant to alleviate the pressure on Swiss hospitals, and later pivoted to addressing pressing medical needs in developing countries. In four short months and in collaboration with PhD students in controls and electrical engineering, we designed and fabricated a prototype of a compression mechanism for a manual resuscitator bag that we showed met current safety requirements for medical ventilators. The design used 72% standard (and thus cheaper) parts and had a compact, portable design. I designed the mechanism so it can be operated with any type and size of manual resuscitator bag, which means it can be used for a variety of patient needs. The ventilator had, for the first time, both continuous mandatory ventilation (CMV), that requires sedation, and assist control (AC), that can be used on a patient while they’re awake.

The ETH Breathe project received a Bridge grant from the Swiss National Foundation to collaborate with a South African hospital for further prototype development.