Living, Breathing Machines
We as a society are desperately relying on healthcare workers and essential services. Unfortunately, nearly all healthcare workers are struggling to keep up with the Coronavirus pandemic and the supplies they need to stay safe and keep their patients alive are dwindling. They are also relying on others to help them. Thankfully, there are those who are stepping up and even going above and beyond to support healthcare workers. Gaming PC company Maingear is one such example of people who can do more that are doing more. They have retooled their production efforts to make life saving ventilators.
In a short video, Maingear showed off their own ventilator called the Maingear LIV. It is a ventilator that was made from “off-the-shelf” parts. The best part is that the production cost is a quarter of the cost of a normal ventilator, so hopefully more of these LIVs can get out to the hospitals that need them. The LIV in the video is hooked up to a simulation lung, to show how it works. It is also outfitted with redundant power supplies in case power gets cut off for some reason, and alarms in case something goes wrong, for example in the event that the oxygen supply is compromised.
MAINGEAR fans, we need you help! We’ve launched the MAINGEAR LIV, a portable modern emergency ventilator (at 25% the cost of a typical ventilator) to address an emergency need. Please help us get the word out by RT and/or tag people that we can work with. https://t.co/MAtAxKso5v pic.twitter.com/zZZiJnwOPY
— maingear (@maingear) April 8, 2020
Something else that is minor, but still inspiring is the name: LIV. It gives the machine a humanizing name, but it also projects the overall goal of the effort; to keep people alive, to live. The warehouse where this LIV was made is just outside of New York, where the United States’ current epicenter of the pandemic is. All that Maingear asks is that you share the video in hopes that the right people see it and are able to spread the word.
What other examples of people in the gaming industry have you seen that supports COVID-19 relief? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Twitter