How to make face mask using Arduino?

Face mask is must to protect yourself from Covid-19.
Whenever we go out to buy groceries or medicines we all use masks.
What if i say frontline workers like doctors,police are also in danger even if they wear masks?

Yes its true.Here is the statistics of problem faced due to prolonged wearing of masks.

Should we be concerned?
As more asymptomatic patients with SARSCoV-2 infection are found in the world,wearing N95 masks is undoubtedly an effective respiratory protective measure .However, wearing an N95 mask for a long time may bring potential risks and even complications that are difficult to eliminate.

When i was going through research articles ,i found this article written by Department Of Neurology, Jilin University.
Here is the prominent details mentioned in the research article:

Oxygen concentration inhaled by healthy subjects wearing a surgical mask covering an N95 respirator decreases to about 17%, and the concentration of carbon dioxide increases to about 1.2% — 3% in a short period of light work (2–3). Although participants did not show any obvious changes in physical
function and did not have any discomfort ratings, the average carbon dioxide concentration inhaled was far higher than the limit of 0.1% of indoor carbon dioxide concentration in many countries.

With prolonged mask wearing, untoward reactions may gradually appear.
In another long-term study, after wearing an N95 mask for 12 hours the CO2 concentration of subjects increased to 41.0 mmHg, far higher than the baseline value of 32.4mm Hg at the beginning of the test .
The subjects mainly reported headache, dizziness, feeling tired and communication obstacles. In real life, the situations and time of wearing masks are much longer than the above experimental research settings.

After reading this article i began to ponder about the effects of wearing masks on students. Colleges in India have begun to resume classes or plan to resume classes in the near future. Most of them require students to wear masks during
the college period. It is questionable that students wear masks for a long time, especially for the children in low school years.
Pregnant women and patients with basic respiratory diseases are the most vulnerable groups as well.I was so concerned about this issue and this thing in my head never was letting me to sleep.

At the same time , our college , NIE , announced innovation competition 2020 where ideas were asked to be designed for COVID-19 and the post COVID-19 situations.Concepts that can help in enforcing and encouraging social distancing,social and moral responsibility which can be adapted post the national and state lockdown should be considered.

I decided this is time where i can solve that issue by developing solution using the technology i know.

Masks makes you hot, sweat, nervous and of course harder to breath. There are thirsty times when you are urging to remove the mask but scared to do so.

What if the face mask could open up when in a safe environment, with no people around. So you can cool down and drink. But to make it safe again, the mask should be able to shut off when anyone is approaching.
Hence , using this idea i decided to develop and design a face mask which will open up when no one is around and it closes when anyone approaches.

Are you excited about this idea?Let’s dwell into how i executed this idea.Let’s get started.

Making of face mask using Arduino:

Step1:Start from a prototype

Since this is a wearable project, we started mocking up a cardboard prototype, this is the fastest and cheapest solution for the correct dimensions, etc.

Step2 :How we make it work and components list:

I used Arduino Nano that read signals from 3 PIR sensors, if any sensor triggers positive,then it shuts down the door by controlling the servo,
and lights up LEDs to tell which sensor is triggered.

Under the lens of the HC-SR501 sensor, there are actually 2 sensors and a comparator circuitry. It sends out HIGH when the 2 sensor readings are
different.

So if the sensor is stationary, the background will make 2 sensors with same reading, when a person or object with heat radiation walks by, one of the sensor will read the difference, thus trigger the module.

Step3:Designing the mask:

To cover the full 360 degrees around a person, we will be using 3 sensors, 2 on the cheek, and one on the back of head. The sensor has a 110 degree range so that adds up to almost a full circle.The above are some rough sketches, for a sci-fi look. With that style in mind and earlier dimensions from the mock up, we can start 3d modeling.

Here is the entire flowchart i followed while designing this face mask:

Our final designed prototype:

I was so delighted after i made this face mask and it worked perfectly good.I also secured first prize in innovation challenge.

If you find any problem then start looking for ideas to solve this real world problem.Try out as many ideas as you can.After you find one idea which is feasible and which can solve this issue implement the idea using the needed technology .
Looking forward to see you all build this face mask:)