I drove my daughter to work today. We often go on some intellectual exercise and today it was whether it would be possible to make a home brew ventilator. we read about Italy running short of ICU beds and ventilators.

Let’s assume that we have all of Home Depot, Woodcraft and a welding supply at our disposal. Let’s further assume that we have a full wood and machine shop at our disposal. Finally, we can assume that, for a short while, we can have an attendant.

in my case, I also have several Arduino microcontrollers on hand as well as the stuff to drive relays. I also have a Microcenter nearby for electronics. Leveraging Home Depot, that gives me sprinkler valves to turn air on and off.

reading about ventilators, there is a lot of nuance and sophistication there. I’m thinking that if operate on the assumption that we have nothing to lose, we can dispense with the details and make something very basic.

feedback is important. We happen to have an Owlet which is a pulse oximitry device for infants. It would be easy to tape the sensor to a hand or foot.

ideas? How basic could you get to save a life? The assumption is that there is no alternative and that something is better than nothing.