Curved-crease origami face shields for infection control.
Aurimas Bukauskas, Antiopi Koronaki, Ting-Uei Lee, Daniel Ott, M Wesam Al Asali, Aftab Jalia, Tom Bashford, Ana Gatóo, Josh Newman, Joseph M Gattas, Darshil U Shah, Michael Ramage
Author Information
Aurimas Bukauskas: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. ORCID
Antiopi Koronaki: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. ORCID
Ting-Uei Lee: School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
Daniel Ott: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
M Wesam Al Asali: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Aftab Jalia: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Tom Bashford: NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, Division of Anaesthesia, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Ana Gatóo: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Josh Newman: School of Media, University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom. ORCID
Joseph M Gattas: School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia. ORCID
Darshil U Shah: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Michael Ramage: Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Face shields are an important component of PPE for front-line workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing protection of the face from splashes and sprays of virus-containing fluids. Existing face shield designs and manufacturing procedures may not allow for production and distribution of face shields in sufficient volume to meet global demand, particularly in Low and Middle-Income countries. This paper presents a simple, fast, and cost-effective curved-crease origami technique for transforming flat sheets of flexible plastic material into face shields for infection control. It is further shown that the design could be produced using a variety of manufacturing methods, ranging from manual techniques to high-volume die-cutting and creasing. This demonstrates the potential for the design to be applied in a variety of contexts depending on available materials, manufacturing capabilities and labour. An easily implemented and flexible physical-digital parametric design methodology for rapidly exploring and refining variations on the design is presented, potentially allowing others to adapt the design to accommodate a wide range of ergonomic and protection requirements.
