ENSTA Bretagne staff and students have been involved in many initiatives to combat Covid-19 and support healthcare teams: a large number of volunteers has got together to make and provide almost 4,000 visors, another team took part in making 30,000 aprons, researchers are creating prototypes for the CHRU university hospital, to improve the isolation of the sick transported on stretchers and developing new hi-tech systems to help breathing. A big well done to all our teams!
Whilst continuing to give their lessons online and following their research activities, the teaching a research staff have completed their first « bibliographic » work : they have made an inventory of all the initiatives in France and in the world which are useful during this pandemic.
- Rapidly, the first project saw the light of day : designing protective visors. The teachering and research staff developed a firts model which was subsequently improved. Following an appeal launched on Facebook, to the community of “makers” (owners of 3D printers), a large group of volunteers was rapidly created in Finistère around ENSTA Bretagne (who coordinated and piloted the project). In a few days, several thousand free visors were made and distributed to healthcare workers.
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- Having discovered the work led by ENSTA Bretagne on visors, ambulance teams contacted our researchers. This was to design a protection system that could be installed on stretchers. The “isolation pod” designed by two teachers at ENSTA Bretagne aims to protect ambulance staff and reduce the cleaning time for ambulances after transporting the sick. Tests are currently underway in Brest.
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- As for the students, a group volunteered to make protective aprons for the staff of Brest university hospital, the CHRU. As there was a shortage, it was necessary to make large quantities of aprons by cutting out the aprons and belts from plastic sheets using scissors, and then folding and packing them. In a few days, 30,000 aprons were made.
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- At the same time, a researcher in robotics was carrying out important work on the prototype of a respiratory support device. Carried out in partnership with Brest CHRU, this “non-invasive” system is able to synchronize with and assist the patients breathing, reducing the need for deep sedation. In the short term, it is also able to automatically detect oxygen requirements and adjust accordingly.
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- Several ENSTA Bretagne student-officers (IETA) are also on the frontline. They are working with the Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris (BSPP emergency services), bringing help to Covid-19 victims.
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These are just some of the first initiatives, not a complete list. The article will be progressively updated.
A big thank you to all our students and staff involved in the battle against Covid-19.
