Students in Romania make protective equipment for doctors treating Covid-19 patients

High school students from all over Romania, enrolled in the BRD FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program, have started working on 3D-printed or hand-made face shields for the health workers treating Covid-19 patients, Startupcafe.ro reported.

The face shields can be used right away and they have been demanded by pharmacies, family doctors, ambulance services or ER doctors at various hospitals in the country.

Other teams of pupils enrolled in the robotics program, which is implemented by the Nație Prin Educație Association, have made their 3D printers available for the making of pieces for mechanical ventilation equipment.

“It was an appeal that the Nație Prin Educație Association made in our robotics community to support the healthcare system, challenged so much at this time. My colleagues held an online course on March 20 and, in less than a week, the children enrolled in our robotics program put their knowledge and resourcefulness to use and came up with specific solutions. All of the teams have 3D printers, most of them donated by Nație Prin Educație throughout the four years of the project, others they purchased them themselves, so they started working to make face shields for hospitals. Other teams have donated their 3D printers to be used for the production of pieces needed for mechanical ventilation equipment; one of them is being tested in Timișoara but there are other private initiatives in various other cities,” Dana Războiu, the president of Nație Prin Educație Association, said, quoted by Startupcafe.ro.

Among the students working is the robotics team Sophia Science in Galați is making face shields for hospitals using a 3D printer. In Hunedoara, the robotics team RobotX Hunedoara is working with equipment manufacturer Viziere Hunedoara to produce, using their 3D printer, face shield components. In Năsăud, the robotics team Cybersoul of the George Coșbuc National College made and delivered face shields to the Năsăud Municipal Hospital. In Beclean, the students of the Petru Rareș National College made face shields to be used by the Beclean Municipal Hospital. In Ploiești, the infO(1)Robotics team of the Ion Luca Caragiale National College is making face shields, some of them already delivered to the Prahova Department of Public Health, the Prahova Emergency Situations Inspectorate, the Ploiești Pediatrics Hospital, the Movila Infectious Diseases Hospital, the Ploiești Municipal Hospital, the Ploiesti Dialysis Center, the Ploiesti Road Police, the local clinic of the Interior Affairs Ministry, and to the Radiology Department of the Prahova County Hospital. In Târgoviște, the Phantom and Under Construction teams of the Constantin Carabella National College are making face shields using PET plastic, and several such devices have already been sent to the Târgoviște County Hospital. In Călărași, the Danube Robotics team is also making face shields, as is the Delta Force team in Arad, where the devices can be disinfected as many times as needed. The AICitizens and BrickBot teams in Focșani, the robotics team of the Zinca Golescu College in Pitești, and the Billzard Eye robotics team of the Ştefan cel Mare National College in Târgu Neamţ are involved in similar projects, making face shields for doctors.