Parrot helps design MakAir respirators for COVID-19 support

April 28, 2020 - By Allison Kral

Drone maker Parrot is supporting French medical professionals facing the COVID-19 pandemic by helping Makers for Life design the MakAir respirator. This partnership comes as a part of their MakAir open source respirator project.

According to Parrot, it will be offering 500 engines for the launch of the MakAir project and will ultimately make 5,000 engines for the project. The engines will offer constant power, controlled vibrations, sufficient reliability and endurance to allow 24/7 operation for six weeks, Parrot added.

The MakAir project came to life when the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a shortage of artificial respirators. Two other projects joined the cause to alleviate this issue. The first project, which brought together a number of manufacturers, was coordinated by Air Liquide and aims to increase the production of artificial respirators from 200 to 10,000 per year, starting in May 2020.

A second nonprofit project has spurred initiatives to create a simplified artificial respirator from standard components. Quentin Adam of the Makers For Life collective, in collaboration with Professors Antoine Roquilly and Pierre-Antoine Gourraud of the Faculty of Medicine of Nantes, and Erwan L’Her, head of the Intensive Medicine and Care Department of the Brest CHU, proposed a concept for a simplified artificial respirator.

The concept is based on using software to regulate inspiration-expiration, directly with the pneumatic system. The Nantes developer team turned to the CEA for industrialization of the concept, which had already been the subject of a proof of concept at the Brest University Hospital.

Parrot reaches milestone in U.S. Army Short-Range Reconnaissance drone program

Parrot has passed another milestone in the United States Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance drone program. As the final steps of this selection process, Parrot will participate in an operational assessment to support an Army production award decision. In anticipation of an increased demand signal from the Department of Defense, Parrot will start manufacturing prototypes of its dedicated drone in the United States, the company said.

“Parrot is honored to work with the DoD on this highly strategic project,” said Laurent Rouchon, vice president of security and defense at Parrot. “We have successfully met the high standards set over the last 12 months on the prototype efforts, and we look forward to entering this final phase and launching production in the USA.”