iButtonLink is joining the battle against COVID-19 with its award of a coveted NASA license to produce quick-to-market ventilators for use during the pandemic.
“We have a rare opportunity to use our custom product engineering skills to save lives,” says Rob Olson, president of iButtonLink. “This is one way we are trying to help fight this pandemic.”
iButtonLink is one of just eight U.S. manufacturers selected out of nearly 100 applicants by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to make a new ventilator tailored for COVID-19 patients. Licensed by Caltech, which operates JPL for NASA, the VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) ventilator is designed to be built quickly at a low cost and using fewer parts than a traditional ventilator. The idea is to produce simple ventilators quickly in order to free up traditional ventilators for use on patients with the most severe COVID-19 symptoms.