When we interviewed a few doctors and other frontline workers earlier, most of them expressed in unison that wearing PPE suits is not easy, but still safety matters, and hence they follow the precautions strictly. We are also aware that most doctors do not have the necessary safety gear either. To bridge the gap between safety and comfort, two students came up with a face shield which costs less than Rs 35!

Discussing the design, Arrenius Karunakaran, a final year student of Design, IIT Guwahati says, "We wanted to make a face shield which is equally affordable to doctors and other frontline workers. After brainstorming a few ideas and repeated trials, we came up with a design model." The face shield was made by Arrenius and Prassana Kumar D, MSc Electronics and Communication student, Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore.

After making a successful prototype, the duo presented it to various doctors who suggested a revision of the model. Now, the final product has three parts which are an OHP sheet, a transparent glass aheet and four 3D printed buttons. "We just assembled all the three parts. We could have sourced the buttons from outside, but unfortunately its lockdown, we had to 3D print them alone. The OHP sheets and the glasses were sourced from our mutual friends," informs the 21-year-old.

Roughly, six shields can be manufactured in an hour when 3D printing the buttons. The productivity may increase if the buttons are sourced from outside post lockdown, and the price may also fall to Rs 10 in this case, according to Arrenius.

Discussing the efficiency and sanitation procedures of the face shield, he shares, "Since the OHP sheet forms the body, the person wearing it can move easily as the sheet is flexible. Also, there are no sophisticated parts in it, so the frontline workers can easily clean it using any sanitising liquid or UV rays too if available."