Virus-fighting app wins award

The Virus Fighters’ Handbook, a global smartphone app co-developed by Festo and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), recently won an award in the Give a Breath Challenge.

The iOs, Android and web app provides guidance on how to build, operate and maintain open-source field hospital equipment, including ventilators, in the fight against COVID-19. It is based on Festo’s Smartenance digital platform for industrial machine and system maintenance, but reprogrammed with input from health-care experts and training content from IPA’s medical technology team.

The Give a Breath Challenge, launched in March, saw more than 150 project designs submitted from around the world, including non-invasive lung ventilators, oxygen concentrators and respiratory masks, along with information for their use.