Public Invention has raised $37,000 for a project run by Glia of Canada to make a completely open source desktop injection molded tourniquet, most immediately for Ukraine but usable by anyone. I’m proud of Glia and our support for them, and want to report a little on what they have done. One of our requirements …
Public Invention has defined over 75 project ideas. Some of these have been gifted to us by readers like you who are willing to donate an idea to the whole world by publishing it; many were thought of by myself. Some ideas are very well-developed, others are just a paragraph. One of the better ideas …
Project #73: Ferrofluid Pump with Only Fluid Moving Parts Read More »
Invention is not exactly the same as engineering, but both require problem solving and innovation. Public Invention is proud to assist Glia, a Canadian firm, in its “Stop the Bleed” project making an open-source tourniquet for the terrible conflict in Ukraine. Not being a first responder, I only recently learned how important these devices are, …
Glia builds tourniquets for Ukraine and Public Invention Helps Read More »
Disaster relief is different than the steady work of research, whether the disaster is natural or caused by human folly and greed. It is bursty and uncertain, urgent and unclear. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I thought the war would be over before Public Invention could possibly do anything. I was traveling to Auburn Alabama, in …
Why we started and then froze a software effort for Ukraine Read More »
Dear Friend of Public Invention, As you probably know, there is a terrible humanitarian crisis in India right now. The COVID-19 disease is rampant, the medical system is overwhelmed, it appears that the infections may actually be increasing, and deaths and infections are almost certainly being undercounted. I would like to tell you that Public …
Recently, Public Invention President Robert L. Read and other volunteers assisted a project with students from Fraunhofer Institute. The Institute released a press release summarized here: In April, COVID-19 began straining healthcare systems as we saw supply-chain breakdowns leading to ventilator shortages. To help mitigate this, individuals, communities, companies, and research institutions began to design …
— Robert L. Read In June and July, Public Invention applied for and received two $20,000 grants, one from the Mozilla Open Source Software (MOSS) Foundation, and one from Protocol labs, specifically to develop, make, and give away free-of-charge, the “VentMon” tester for invasive and non-invasive ventilators. The MOSS foundation grant had stronger legal language …
Our progress and plans: An open letter about the VentMon to donors and grantors Read More »
The videos from Vent-Con 2020 are available now! On May 21st, Public Invention co-hosted Vent-Con 2020–an Open Source Ventilator Conference–along with Helpful Engineering, Make.co, and Ventilators Collaboration Network. The mini-conference/webinar reviewed the impressive progress, discussed the uncertain present, and forged a path forward into the future for makers, philanthropists, investors, government officials, medical professionals, and …
In just the last two weeks, America has begun to take strenuous action to slow the COVID-19 pandemic. Adam made a private call for us to answer this challenge, and Bruce Fenton (unknown to me) made a public call. Since Monday I have been working full-time (and a bit more) on this. Having the advantage of …
Working on the Ventilators shortfall of the COVID-19 pandemic Read More »
Science is about truth; engineering is about compromise. At Public Invention, we do both, but perhaps more engineering than science. Our goal is to have a large positive impact on many people; but time and money are always in short supply. How, then, to compromise on which projects to prioritize? In order to be able …
The Fuller Scale: A Unit of Humanitarian Invention Impact Read More »
