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Across the globe,
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companies and organizations began shifting production
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to meet the demand for much-needed ventilators.
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In Europe, scuba diving masks
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became a new tool to fight COVID-19.
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An Israeli missile company
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now makes life-saving breathing machines.
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And, in the United States,
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Tesla engineers designed ventilators
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made from spare electric car parts.
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In late March, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla,
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offered free ventilators to hospitals that needed them.
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But, these machines, designed for sleep apnea,
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had to be converted by doctors
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at a New York City hospital.
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Now, Tesla employees created a prototype
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made from Model 3 parts.
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- We've been working on developing
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our own ventilator design, specifically one
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that's heavily based on Tesla car parts.
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You can see that all the red parts
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here are a Tesla vehicle part,
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so we've used a lot of those.
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- This touch screen is powered by
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the Model 3 infotainment computer in here,
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which controls Model 3 vehicle controllers.
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- In Michigan, Ford and GE
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plan to use a former automotive plant
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to build a ventilator that doesn't need electricity.
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It uses air pressure to run.
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The companies expect to get started in late April,
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producing 50,000 ventilators in the first 100 days,
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and then, 30,000 a month, going forward.
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In Tokyo, Metron produces ventilators for animals.
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Now, they're being converted to use for people.
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The CEO said the respiratory systems
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of humans and many animals are similar.
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Japan's government asked Metron
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to modify the equipment for human use.
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Representatives from the UK, the US, and India
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have also reached out to the company to ask for help.
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The global effort to fight the coronavirus
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even meant one company making a life-saving product,
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instead of its usual life-taking weapons.
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In Tel Aviv, Israel Aerospace Industries
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rapidly shifted its production line
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from missiles to ventilators.
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It partnered with medical device maker Inovytec
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and the Israel Defense Force
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to deliver 30 ventilators.
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In France, the Ambroise Paré Clinic
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converted scuba diving masks to medical use,
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so that patients would not need tubes
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going into their lungs.
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These can help less severe cases of COVID-19.
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Decathlon, the maker of the masks,
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suspended sales to the public
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and donated them to hospitals in need.
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In Belgium, an engineer devised an adapter
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for the masks on a 3D printing machine.
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- So that's why we could go very, very fast
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and from the first talk we had
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to the really usable prototype,
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it was really a few hours.
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- The printed prototype
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became the model for a large order
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using medical-grade plastics.
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In the Czech Republic,
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researchers designed a simple ventilator
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for others to produce around the world.
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The design will be released to the public
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so that anyone can manufacture the ventilators,
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instead of waiting for the finished product
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to be shipped from somewhere else.
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And in Slovakia,
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these students built a stop-gap ventilator
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for patients waiting on more professional designs.
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In light of the pandemic,
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the world is seeing human ingenuity and compassion
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attacking a problem facing everyone.