The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has placed enormous strain on global health care due to the sudden and exorbitant caseload burdens, compounded by insufficient access to the requisite supplies and equipment necessary to treat patients. Most notably, critical shortages of mechanical ventilators, which are essential for oxygenating patients who cannot breathe on their own, have forced physicians to make difficult decisions between who will and will not receive treatment, especially in resource-limited communities. In this article, we describe the efforts undertaken by a consortium of engineers, roboticists, and clinicians from Vanderbilt University to develop an easily reproducible mechanical ventilator out of core components that can be sourced locally, inexpensively, and en masse.

中文翻译：

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范德比尔特开源呼吸机：从餐巾素描到准备在三周内挽救生命

冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）危机给病例带来了突然和过高的负担，给全球医疗保健造成了巨大压力，而无法获得足够的治疗所需的必需用品和设备也使情况更加恶化。最值得注意的是，机械呼吸机严重短缺，这对不能自行呼吸的患者充氧至关重要，这迫使医生在将要接受和不愿接受治疗的患者之间做出艰难的决定，尤其是在资源有限的社区。在本文中，我们描述了范德比尔特大学的工程师，机器人专家和临床医生组成的财团为从核心组件中开发出易于复制的机械呼吸机而做出的努力，这些组件可以从本地，廉价地大量购买。