Matthew Nelson
The Department of Defense has selected five out of 172 ventilator proposals through a rapid prototyping initiative that sought to prevent a looming shortage of breathing devices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
DoD said Friday it employed the U.S. Special Operations Command's Vulcan digital platform for the Hack-a-Vent Challenge to crowdsource portable ventilation designs that would cost under $500 to build and operate.
The Uniformed Service University assessed the five prototypes and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center helped the development teams prepare for a rapid production effort.
The U.S. Air Force will serve as the executive agent for the project, while the Wright Brothers Institute will work with the selected ventilator developers in development and testing efforts.
The winning prototypes and developers are:
- BLU3 Vent from BLU3
- CorVent from Coridea
- FieldVent from Northrop Grumman
- iBreather from L3Harris Technologies
- PRE-Vent from the U.S. Navy
