IIT Madras-incubated start-ups have developed personal protective equipment (PPE) made from 3D printers and common stationery materials. Initial batches have already been supplied to frontline healthcare workers and are being scaled up for mass production for deployment to hospitals, clinics across the country, at affordable rates, says a press release from the institute.
The 3D-printed face shields and intubation boxes were developed by Fabheads Automation, which specialises in manufacturing parts from plastics and fibre-reinforced plastics and supported by the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.
Face shields made using simple stationery items have been developed by Axis Defence Labs, an IIT Madras start-up co-founded by Sathvik Batte, a second-year student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras. It is supported by ‘Nirmaan,’ the IIT Madras pre-incubator, which helps convert students’ ideas into products through mentorship.
In association with ‘CY4,’ an automotive start-up based in Chennai, and other start-ups across India, Axis Defence Labs plans to distribute the face shields across the country, the release said.
The low-cost face shield can be procured at less than ₹30 a piece in large volumes, and the team also has developed the capacity to supply up to 50,000 visors and 5,000 headgear a day.
The intubation box reduces transmission risk to doctors during intubation. It is light to carry and provides doctors easy access to patients via two big holes that can even be fitted with attached gloves, which minimise the doctor’s contact with the patient further, the release said.