Moroccan searchers’muse very inspiring in coronavirus times
In these times of coronavirus, Moroccan searchers, scientists and engineers have joined efforts to help their country mitigate the impact of the pandemic and since the outbreak of the pandemic, several scientists and operators in the Moroccan industrial fabric have swiftly adapted to create and manufacture anti-coronavirus equipment and protective gear.
On Wednesday, MAP reported that a team of Moroccan engineers and doctors has invented an intelligent mask that allows users to detect COVID-19 cases.
The team recently launched an initial version of the intelligent mask for automatic remote detection of the virus (MIDAD), which also serves as protective gear.
The team also invented a tracking application called Trackorona that will accompany the mask. The app offers a method for predicting and diagnosing the virus.
The engineers and doctors used several methods to create the intelligent mask, including 3D printing.
MIDAD also has a map and sensors to take temperature and humidity to measure the pressure of the respiratory cycle and measures the amount of oxygen in the blood.
The intelligent mask is connected via Bluetooth to the Trackorona app, which tracks users’ movements to determine their compliance with containment and social distancing.
The mask is not required to use Trackorona. The mobile app will soon be available for smartphone owners to download for free.
Trackorona offers a “medically validated self-diagnosis form and innovative technology for detecting the symptoms of the disease by voice,” Mouhsine Lakhdissi, one of the MIDAD inventors, told the media.
“The idea is the result of a collective reflection within the framework of citizen mobilization in connection with the global pandemic,” Lakhdissi explained. This innovative mask can be used to fight the coronavirus, but also in remote medicalization in other cases.
MIDAD is one of the six projects selected in an international competition called “HakingCovid19” organized by HEC Paris and other partners. Over 100 projects participated in the competition.
Also on Wednesday, M24TV reported that a Moroccan startup, STM Loop, and researchers from the Tangier School of Science and Technology (FST Tangier) have invented a new automatic ventilator model to help doctors treat COVID-19 patients.
The automatic ventilator includes an intelligent program that determines the optimal level of air pressure and volume. The respiratory system includes an alert system for critical situations, as well as an electronic card that allows for remote control, meaning the doctor can adjust the pressure and the flow of respiration.
Another Moroccan company, OK Design, is cooperating with STM Loop and FST Tangier to manufacture the device on a large scale.
One of the founders of STM Loop, Alaa El Moudni, a Moroccan student engineer and researcher at the Institute of Technology in Illinois in the US told Morocco World News website that the cost of the ventilator will not exceed $200.
The availability of all the ventilator’s components in Morocco will allow for the production of 20 to 50 units per day.
Besides, since the invention is based on an already certified medical instrument tested by doctors and medical experts, OK Design can start producing the invention very soon, without waiting for further certification.
Earlier this month, a group of students from the Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences developed several medical inventions to help fight the spread of COVID-19, including a cylindrical-shaped portal that sprays disinfecting products on people who go through it.
According to the Automatic disinfecting portal inventor, Abdallah Ayache, the machine does not only serve during the COVID-19 crisis, in airports, supermarkets, hospitals, public administrations, and workplaces but could be used permanently in airports and hospitals.
“This is a gift from me to my country, and I am ready to provide Moroccan officials with all the technical details of its functioning,” Ayache said.
Last month, a group of aeronautics enterprises as well as researchers, doctors and electronic engineers cooperated to produce a first prototype of a Moroccan-made ventilator that will serve as a basis to improve a more sophisticated version, designed to save lives by pumping oxygenated air to the lungs of coronavirus patients.
According to press reports, a first batch of 500 ventilators has already been manufactured and the team is already working on a second version which allows, in addition to providing ventilation, to have sensors and to send oxygen in a more technical way.
Meanwhile, other Moroccan companies are producing sanitizers, gloves, facemasks and other protective gear to help Morocco secure self-sufficiency in such highly demanded equipment worldwide.
