Stratasys Ltd., Eden Prairie, Minn., announces that a coalition of companies and universities assembled by Stratasys to produce face shields by leveraging 3D printers now numbers more than 150. Among others, the list includes Boeing, General Atomics, Medtronic, Dunwoody College of Technology, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Minnesota.
In an effort to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, Stratasys set an initial goal to produce 5,000 face shields at no cost to recipients through its own and partner resources by March 27. This includes both a 3D-printed visor and a clear plastic shield that covers the entire face. Stratasys said that number was exceeded, and the coalition should be able to produce more than 11,000 face shields by April 4, and 16,000 or more during the following week.
In addition, an initiative led by anesthesiology residents of Massachusetts General Hospital called the CoVent-19 Challenge has launched. The challenge will ask engineers and designers to help develop a new rapidly deployable ventilator and other innovative solutions to the ventilator shortage, and Stratasys will support the challenge and promote it via its GrabCAD community of more than 7 million professional designers, engineers, manufacturers and students. The company will also provide prototyping services to the challenge finalists.
