COVID-19/Coronavirus Product Design and 3D Printing Challenge

Cad Crowd has launched an interesting design challenge for COVID-19 equipment. 

The company normally provides a marketplace for freelance 3D designers looking to connect with industry’s needs for design and modeling skills. Currently they have almost 30,000 designers registered to their service. They even offer specific design skills for projects intended to be 3D printed.

Like many companies these days, Cad Crowd is adapting to the new normals in society. They have launched a very interesting design contest that focuses on the need for unusual devices to assist in solving or mitigating the COVID-19 crisis, or just items that help the everyday person survive more easily. 

As of this writing there are over one hundred designs submitted to their contest, and many of them are quite unusual takes on dealing with COVID-19. While the larger community focuses on face shields and mask designs, that’s not the case in cad crowd’s contest. Some that caught my eye were:

• Covid-19 No Touch Crescent – An unusual door opener

• Hand sanitizer for elevators

• Infinite sterile door handle

• “Grip” to cover hands while grasping items

• Car door touch protector

• Outdoor sanitization chamber

• Grocery basket handle

• And many more. 

Cad Crowd explains what they are seeking: 

“Some product ideas include no-touch door handles, no-touch doorknob attachments for houses/senior living spaces, and no-touch faucets. These are just examples, and we’ll consider all new product concepts that are practical, affordable, simple to produce and can be easily cleaned.”

And:

”To re-iterate on contest goals: we want to create open-source designs that anyone can download, easily produce (3D print or create with commonly available parts) and use in public spaces. This means that all designs are currently downloadable by everyone (i.e. peers, companies, media, etc.) to immediately reduce the spread of COVID-19 and ideally save lives.”

There’s little in the way of prizes for this contest, though they offer entrants extra points in the Cad Crowd system to participate, but are seeking some corporate sponsorship. Really, the volunteers who submit designs for this contest are doing so simply because they want to help.

The contest remains open until the 18th, so there is still time to submit an entry if you’re interested. Otherwise, please take a look at these unusual designs; you may get some ideas of your own after looking through them. 

Via Cad Crowd