Innovative initiative to protect masks during social COVID situations has been created in collaboration between two start-ups founded by university students.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially since the quote “the new normal” became a common expression, more and more people are going back to their routines with a new inseparable accessory, the mask.
Observing that when people do not have to wear the mask, they do not really know where to place it, these two entrepreneurs have found a solution to keep our masks clean and protected when not in use.
This product has been developed in partnership between Sensor City based Drill Surgeries Ltd. and Electrodynamics Tap Limited (EDTap) for the past 2 months, while working remotely.
While both companies work in different industries, a medical device research and development company and an electronics manufacturer respectively, they are both bounded by the urge to contribute to the community hence why this is an OPEN project, available for anyone to replicate.
Moises Barbera, 22, recent graduate from a master’s in physics from the University of Liverpool and Founder of Drill Surgeries Ltd., said: “With a growing interest in moving the economy and taking back our freedom, I have observed many people going to restaurants, bars, pubs, cinema theatres, etc. and finding out that now that they do not have to wear their masks they have no place to keep them.
“While many decide to place it on their arm or folded on their pocket, these are not the best places to keep a hygienic element aimed at preventing contagions since our arms and pockets (filled with our phone, wallet, spare change) are in constant contact with the environment.
“With the help from EDTap’s team we have found a solution. A mask holder that can be easily installed at home or the cafeteria/cinema/ restaurant / etc. to comfortably hold and keep the users’ mask clean, preventing them from placing it on unrecommended places.”
Joan Talaya, 21, Student of industrial electronics and home automation at the Universidad Politécnica of Valencia and Co-Founder of EDTap, added: “When we partnered with Drill Surgeries Ltd. to work on this project we knew this was the right call to action since many products are being released around this pandemic but very few have tackled the wellbeing of non-infected individuals who are back on their routines trying to live the new normality to the maximum of their possibilities.
“As a founder of a company dedicated to electronics I know how much you can contribute to society with advances in this field. From the very beginning of this social problem, I knew that we could do something that could help people maintain a more hygienic environment. When I decided that as we could help more was with a sterilization system, I was thrilled to know how much we were going to contribute.”
Both founders are pushing this project to get to as many people as possible hence why this product is completely open source under the CC by 4.0 license, check www.drillsurgeries.com under the “mask holder” section to have free access to the source files and keep up to date with all the updates on this and other projects related with healthcare.
Drill Surgeries Ltd. and Electrodynamics Tap Limited are fully registered at Companies House by the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales.
For more information, please contact: Moises Barbera, Drill Surgeries Ltd., contact@drillsurgeries.com