MARA: the ventilator that cares for 6 coronavirus patients at the same time

In Mexico, with the support of the company Marbar Tech Solution, the State University of Sonora (UES) and the Technological Center of Hermosillo (CTH) developed an artificial respiration equipment with great potential in the context of the pandemic. It was called the Automated Assisted Breathing Machine (MARA), and it is an artificial respirator that treats 6 patients with coronavirus at the same time.

Currently the use of artificial respirators has increased with the appearance of COVID-19, since this pandemic causes respiratory failure. This has motivated Pedro Mar Hernández, director of the CTH, to make an alliance with the Sonora State University in order to create a team with greater capacity.

How they managed to create the machine

Mar Hernández and Pedro Ortega Romero, Regent of the UES, were supported by Marbar Tech Solution. In turn, they received the help of some suppliers of medical and industrial equipment.

MARA is a redesign of common artificial respirators, which was achieved by integrating medical components with elements of the German Festo company pneumatic didactic bench. To manufacture it, practices were used in the robotic, electronic, mechanical and mechatronic areas. All of these disciplines are taught in higher education in Sonora.

Despite the fact that MARA is a single machine, it is capable of serving six people at once. This because it has independent modules for each patient, which allow adjusting some parameters. These can be oxygen flow, respiratory rate, pressure force, oxygen volume.

This artificial respirator helps reduce exposure to the spread of medical personnel to the coronavirus. The MARA model is already endorsed by more than 20 medical specialists.

New initiative throughout Mexico

The creation of MARA served as a start for the technological project carried out by the University of Sonora. That he wants more Mexican institutions to replicate the model. Currently, three institutions are already starting the MARA replica. Similarly, the regent of the university urged any interested citizen to participate in the creation of more machines, indicating that only the necessary materials are needed.

Sonora's technological universities are willing to create more equipment, these institutions already have the necessary industrial equipment to create approximately 30 respirators.

Many coronavirus patients can be saved with these new respirators. This initiative of the University of Sonora is a hope for those infected with COVID-19, who will be able to access artificial respiration for a low cost.

According to Armando Ramírez Loya, National Director of Didactics at Festo, a company involved in the development of MARA, the use of the respirator will be inexpensive, allowing thousands of Mexicans to access the services of the respirators. Similarly, he declared that there is sufficient industrial equipment throughout Mexico to create another thousand machines. These would be added to the 30 that can currently be manufactured by the technological universities of Sonora.

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