5 ms·

CoroVent – pulmonary ventilator for Covid-19 patients

50 points by salzig 6y ago

ayakura 6y ago
> "Our prototypes are being tested by regulatory authority, while we’re running a pre-production batch of a few dozen pieces" Since they are currently under review I'll wait a bit to see the results, but other than that the prototypes seem well made. Good job
sergioisidoro 6y ago
The title is slightly misleading. The open source license (according to the linked documents) expires on 31st May 2020. What happens after that? Feels like the open source is aimed only for the development phase, and no one else other than the authors will be able to execute large scale production
- sbuttgereit 6y ago
  I would say calling this "open source" as it's generally understood to most here on HN is simply incorrect. This isn't open source on any of those terms. This is simply a license granting licensees (anyone willing to agree to terms in this case) temporary rights to use the IP for COVID-19 related purposes. That license 1) ends and 2) sets fairly limited use cases allowed under the license. If we want to relate this back to the software world, "source available" would be a closer analogue.
  - gus_massa 6y ago
    What about "Source Available Shareware" until May 31st 2020? Also, will it be aproved before that date? Only the devices that are finalized before that day are covered in the licence and nobody is going to build too many of them until it is aproved for use.
    - sbuttgereit 6y ago
      Shareware is probably a better analogy... though most shareware I ever experienced told me the price upfront :-) Personally, I think the accomplished what they wanted... getting noticed.
  - mordae 6y ago
    It's even worse. They have raised funding to build a batch of these saying the project is open source. That's an actual fraud. https://www.donio.cz/CoroVent#obsah https://www.donio.cz/CoroVent#obsah
    - gus_massa 6y ago
      The autotranalation says: > From the beginning, our intentions were clear: to ensure local production for Czech hospitals and help to release IP devices as open source as soon as possible. I'd blame a cueless buzzword-heavy marketing team, instead of intentional fraud.
- dang 6y ago
  We've taken "opensource" out of the title. Thanks!
RobertoG 6y ago
There are really a lot of those projects. I have been following this one: https://www.oxygen.protofy.xyz/ https://www.oxygen.protofy.xyz/ It's open source and there are two versions: industrial production and 3d printing. I also find the mechanical way it adapts to different patients interesting: the different breathing patterns are codified by different levers in the mechanism that push the AMBU. So, the programming is done changing a piece in the device. There is this cool visualization too: https://protofyteam.github.io/oxygen-visualization/ https://protofyteam.github.io/oxygen-visualization/
meej 6y ago
Meanwhile, it looks like ventilators may not be as beneficial or necessary as originally thought. https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-overused-for-covid-19/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-...
jlebar 6y ago
I'm helping lead software development for http://respira.works http://respira.works, another one of these emergency ventilator projects. Our software is licensed as Apache 2. I'm not sure if the HW license is settled, but the intent is to go with a similarly-permissive license. To preempt the big question of, how are we different from the many other orgs trying to do a similar thing: We're trying to build a ventilator that a COVID patient can be on for multiple weeks, not just as an emergency stopgap until they can get on a "real" ventilator. We believe that this would be hard with e.g. an approach based on a breather bag to build a device that's sensitive enough not to harm a patient over the course of weeks. Happy to answer any questions.
- pkaye 6y ago
  A few questions... Does your ventilator regulate pressure and volume? Does it need a medical oxygen supply? Does it filter the exhaled air? Does it monitor the patients breathing pattern and sync with it? Also what kind of testing has been done to date?
  - jlebar 6y ago
    > Does your ventilator regulate pressure and volume? Does it need a medical oxygen supply? Does it filter the exhaled air? Does it monitor the patients breathing pattern and sync with it? Yes to all. :) > Also what kind of testing has been done to date? Still very much in development.
    - pkaye 6y ago
      Glad to hear your team has thought this through.

50 points by salzig 6y ago

> "Our prototypes are being tested by regulatory authority, while we’re running a pre-production batch of a few dozen pieces" Since they are currently under review I'll wait a bit to see the results, but other than that the prototypes seem well made. Good job

sergioisidoro 6y ago

The title is slightly misleading. The open source license (according to the linked documents) expires on 31st May 2020. What happens after that? Feels like the open source is aimed only for the development phase, and no one else other than the authors will be able to execute large scale production

sbuttgereit 6y ago
I would say calling this "open source" as it's generally understood to most here on HN is simply incorrect. This isn't open source on any of those terms. This is simply a license granting licensees (anyone willing to agree to terms in this case) temporary rights to use the IP for COVID-19 related purposes. That license 1) ends and 2) sets fairly limited use cases allowed under the license. If we want to relate this back to the software world, "source available" would be a closer analogue.
- gus_massa 6y ago
  What about "Source Available Shareware" until May 31st 2020? Also, will it be aproved before that date? Only the devices that are finalized before that day are covered in the licence and nobody is going to build too many of them until it is aproved for use.
  - sbuttgereit 6y ago
    Shareware is probably a better analogy... though most shareware I ever experienced told me the price upfront :-) Personally, I think the accomplished what they wanted... getting noticed.
- mordae 6y ago
  It's even worse. They have raised funding to build a batch of these saying the project is open source. That's an actual fraud. https://www.donio.cz/CoroVent#obsah https://www.donio.cz/CoroVent#obsah
  - gus_massa 6y ago
    The autotranalation says: > From the beginning, our intentions were clear: to ensure local production for Czech hospitals and help to release IP devices as open source as soon as possible. I'd blame a cueless buzzword-heavy marketing team, instead of intentional fraud.
dang 6y ago
We've taken "opensource" out of the title. Thanks!

RobertoG 6y ago

There are really a lot of those projects. I have been following this one: https://www.oxygen.protofy.xyz/ https://www.oxygen.protofy.xyz/ It's open source and there are two versions: industrial production and 3d printing. I also find the mechanical way it adapts to different patients interesting: the different breathing patterns are codified by different levers in the mechanism that push the AMBU. So, the programming is done changing a piece in the device. There is this cool visualization too: https://protofyteam.github.io/oxygen-visualization/ https://protofyteam.github.io/oxygen-visualization/

meej 6y ago

Meanwhile, it looks like ventilators may not be as beneficial or necessary as originally thought. https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-overused-for-covid-19/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/08/doctors-say-ventilators-...

jlebar 6y ago

I'm helping lead software development for http://respira.works http://respira.works, another one of these emergency ventilator projects. Our software is licensed as Apache 2. I'm not sure if the HW license is settled, but the intent is to go with a similarly-permissive license. To preempt the big question of, how are we different from the many other orgs trying to do a similar thing: We're trying to build a ventilator that a COVID patient can be on for multiple weeks, not just as an emergency stopgap until they can get on a "real" ventilator. We believe that this would be hard with e.g. an approach based on a breather bag to build a device that's sensitive enough not to harm a patient over the course of weeks. Happy to answer any questions.

pkaye 6y ago
A few questions... Does your ventilator regulate pressure and volume? Does it need a medical oxygen supply? Does it filter the exhaled air? Does it monitor the patients breathing pattern and sync with it? Also what kind of testing has been done to date?
- jlebar 6y ago
  > Does your ventilator regulate pressure and volume? Does it need a medical oxygen supply? Does it filter the exhaled air? Does it monitor the patients breathing pattern and sync with it? Yes to all. :) > Also what kind of testing has been done to date? Still very much in development.
  - pkaye 6y ago
    Glad to hear your team has thought this through.