2020 Apr 10
Sri Lanka may be a tiny island in the Indian Ocean but our hearts are big and our talent pool even bigger. Naturally, with a pandemic sweeping across the globe and all of Sri Lanka’s resources being diverted into battling against COVID-19, Sri Lankans in the tech industry too have stepped up to the plate in various different capacities to ensure the fight against this virus isn’t fought alone. From protective gear to enhancing the job market, here are all the Sri Lankan tech innovations that are rising during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AGV ROBOT BY ATLAS STATIONARY
Sri Lankan stationery manufacturer, Atlas stationery, has developed an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) robot to aid medical personnel in the battle against COVID-19. The AGV can transport food and medicine, carry out temperature checks, and aids doctors in the process of monitoring and communicating with patients. Developed by the Atlas Engineering Tech Team, and inspected by Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe.
The home-grown innovation is currently available at the Homagama Hospital and is free to anyone willing to further enhance or duplicate the innovation to support hospital staff in combatting the pandemic.
THE CONVENT – DIY BAG MASK VENTILATOR
An effort by Dr. Jeewaka Dayaratne and biomedical engineers Sajitha and Udana, the Covent-DIY Bag Mask Ventilator is a makeshift positive pressure displacement ventilator that pumps air into the lungs of patients with breathing difficulties and costs less than USD 90 to make.
LOW COST MEDICAL VENTILATOR BY VEGA INNOVATIONS
With a typical ventilator costing approximately USD 30,000 per unit, Vega Innovations, a subsidiary of CodeGen Group of Companies, developed a low-cost scalable ventilator in 10 days that can be manufactured under a cost of USD 650 per unit. This ventilator is designed for treating Coronavirus patients in their critical phase and is currently being tested under the supervision of Dr. Chandana Karunarathna, Consultant in Anesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine at Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka. Vega hopes to begin manufacturing as per industry standards to ensure quick deployment alongside the Ministry of Health.
VIDEO LARYNGOSCOPE BY DUMINDA BODYKIT
Sri Lanka’s Got Talent Star Duminda Amarasiri and Dr. Sankalpa Vithanage of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka have collaborated to create a locally manufactured video laryngoscope to aid in treating patients with COVID-19. The device can cost up to LKR 950,000 when imported but is currently being manufactured in Sri Lanka by Duminda Bodykit free of charge. This device connects to a smartphone in order to aid doctors in examining patients from afar, making the likelihood of cross-contamination lower.
Duminda Bodykit is currently in need of 5.5mm, water-resistant endoscopy cameras in order to dispatch the equipment to hospitals. Should you be able and willing to donate these cameras, you can contact Duminda Amarasiri on 071 4719441 or Dr. Sankalpa Vithanage on 077 7502237.
Scuba Gear Mask by Dr. Lakmal Fernando and Dr. Viraje Rodrigo
Made out of donated scuba masks from Decathalon Sri Lanka, Dr. Fernando and Dr. Rodrigo have assembled a mask to be worn by doctors in ICUs across the island. This mask that is reusable, can be worn with glasses, has an effective filtration system and is more comfortable to wear than standard goggles and is also supposedly safer than any hospital-grade N95 mask.
HAND SANITIZER FROM ROCKLAND DISTILLERIES
Seeing a need for sanitizers in Sri Lanka and the lack thereof around the world, Rockland Distilleries took to manufacturing hand sanitizer made with Rockland arrack through their arrack production lines. The bottles were manufactured under the supervision of the excise department and donated to the IDH and National Hospital on the 9th of April under the guidance of the Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe.
Rockland Distilleries addressed this act as their “small way of helping to safeguard the brave doctors, nurses and staff at the hospitals” and are “looking forward to doing further donations to other hospitals”.
FACE VISORS BY ANIM8
A small section of our #anim8crew has been real busy making face visors to be used in hospitals treating patients with Covid-19. We will also be releasing this face visor design for open source manufacture. Also, take a look at our cool robotic cutting machine and laser engraver marker – we are so happy to use them in this time of need.
Posted by Anim8.lk on Saturday, March 28, 2020
Using their existing robotic cutting machine and laser engraver marker, Anim8 Sri Lanka is currently producing face visors to be used as protective gear in hospitals around the island to facilitate the treatment of COVID-19 patients. As of the 9th of April, they have manufactured and donated 3000+ face visors and hopes to release this face visor design for open source manufacture soon.
Did we miss out any creative tech innovations? Let us know in the comments.
