Festo Honoured for Free App Showing Field Personnel How to Build, Maintain Covid-19 Equipment

VirusFighters App

August 28, 2020

The Virus Fighters’ Handbook, a smartphone app co-developed by Festo and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), provides a digital manual for field personnel on how to operate and maintain open source equipment, including ventilators, in the fight against Covid-19. Festo and the IPA were honoured at the recent Give a Breath Challenge awards for designing the app, which will be made available worldwide, for free, for iOS and Android devices and as a web application.

The app is based on Festo’s Smartenance remote maintenance app, adjusted with input from medical experts from several hospitals, and intended primarily to benefit irregular staff recruited to work in field hospitals and who are unfamiliar with the equipment. Registered users receive detailed information from medical professionals and service professionals via the app about how to build, operate and maintain the equipment.

In Smartenance, one of the company’s powerful new digital tools, Festo was able to provide a stable platform that needed only minimal reprogramming. The Smartenance software is normally used for the maintenance and servicing of machines and systems in industrial production. The IPA team, which specializes in the development of didactic material in the field of medical technology, provided the training content.

Being able to help people around the world fight corona with a purely digital product has given the development team a special boost,” says Andreas Oroszi, Head of Digital Business at Festo. “Festo is proud that their idea has now been awarded a prize.

Munich Re and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft launched the Give a Breath Challenge in March. The challenge was split into three categories. The first category sought designs for non-invasive lung ventilators and oxygen concentrators, the second for the development of non-invasive respirator masks, and the third for the provision of information on the use of the equipment along with basic knowledge on Covid-19. With these three components, a complete respirator system can be set up by almost anyone. It had to be possible to produce the equipment anywhere in the world using 3D printing or other fast manufacturing processes. The primary aim was to create the technological basis for the rapid local supply of ventilators to cope with imminent shortages in the local emergency treatment of Covid-19 patients and mitigate the impact of the pandemic for people affected worldwide.

Over 150 project designs from all over the world were submitted to the Challenge.

Related Articles


Changing Scene


Sponsored Content
The Easy Way to the Industrial IoT

The way to the Industrial IoT does not have to be complicated. Whether access to valuable data is required or new, data-driven services are to be generated, Weidmuller enables its customers to go from data to value the easy way. Weidmuller’s comprehensive and cutting-edge IIoT portfolio applies to greenfield and brownfield applications. Weidmuller offers components and solutions from data acquisition, data pre-processing, data communication and data analysis.

Visit Weidmuller’s Industrial IoT Portfolio.


ADVANCED Motion Controls Takes Servo Drives to New Heights (and Depths) with FlexPro Extended Environment Product Line

Advanced Motion Controls is proud to announce the addition of six new CANopen servo drives with Extended Environment capabilities to their FlexPro line. These new drives join AMC’s existing EtherCAT Extended Environment FlexPro drives, making the FlexPro line the go-to solution for motion control applications in harsh environments.

Many motion control applications take place in conditions that are less than ideal, such as extreme temperatures, high and low pressures, shocks and vibrations, and contamination. Electronics, including servo drives, can malfunction or sustain permanent damage in these conditions.

Read More


Service Wire Co. Announces New Titles for Key Executives

Bruce Kesler and Mark Gatewood have been given new titles and responsibilities for Service Wire Co.

Bruce Kesler has assumed the role of Senior Director – Business Development. Bruce will be responsible for Service Wire’s largest strategic accounts and our growing Strategic Accounts Team.

Mark Gatewood has been promoted to the role of Vice President – Sales & Marketing. In this role, Gatewood will lead the efforts of Service Wire Company’s entire sales and marketing organization in all market verticals.

Read More


Tri-Mach Announces the Purchase of an Additional 45,000 sq ft. Facility

Tri-Mach Elmira Facility

Recently, Tri-Mach Inc. was thrilled to announce the addition of a new 45,000 sq ft. facility. Located at 285 Union St., Elmira, ON, this facility expands Tri-Mach’s capabilities, allowing them to better serve the growing needs of their customers.

Positioning for growth, this additional facility will allow Tri-Mach to continue taking on large-scale projects, enhance product performance testing, and provide equipment storage for their customers. The building will also be the new home to their Skilled Trades Centre of Excellence.

Read More


JMP Parent Company, CONVERGIX Acquires AGR Automation, Expanding Global Reach

Convergix Automation Solutions has completed the acquisition of AGR Automation (“AGR”), a UK-based provider of custom, high-performance automation design and systems integration primarily to the life sciences industry.

Following Convergix’s acquisitions of JMP Solutions in August 2021 and Classic Design in February 2022, AGR marks the third investment in Crestview’s strategy to build Convergix into a diversified automation solutions provider targeting the global $500+ billion market, with a particular focus on the $70 billion global systems integration and connectivity segments. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Read More


Latest Articles

  • Implementing Functional Safety Requirements

    Implementing Functional Safety Requirements

    The Safety Functional Requirements Specification (SFRS; sometimes referred to as SRS or Safety Requirements Specification) is the plan for the safety controls on a machine and is the second step of the safety lifecycle. The SFRS document serves as a framework for the safety control system design, is informed by prior work done in the… Read More…

  • From Endress+Hauser, 24/7 Digital, Plant-Wide Health Monitoring for Rockwell Systems Optimizes Workflows and Processes

    From Endress+Hauser, 24/7 Digital, Plant-Wide Health Monitoring for Rockwell Systems Optimizes Workflows and Processes

    Endress+Hauser’s Asset Health Monitoring Solution–Rockwell Edition, now available for installation, provides operators with a centralized, digital overview of plant-wide device health to avoid unscheduled shutdowns and accelerate troubleshooting. It not only presents early visibility of problematic devices but distinguishes itself by adding likely causes and remedies to such a report so problems can be fixed… Read More…