UPN Student Invention Helps Address a COVID-19 Challenge

Often in times of crisis opportunities present themselves, and at Laureate, we’ve seen this throughout the year, as students, staff and faculty have responded to the global pandemic.

A recent example of this is at UPN in Peru, where a Professor and six Industrial Design students considered how to address the safe delivery of online purchases, with the significant increase in home deliveries, as the health crisis exacerbated and strict quarantine measures were introduced.

“We saw the demand for home deliveries was growing at an accelerated rate, but not in the most efficient way to ensure that the products arrived in optimal hygienic conditions. So we asked ourselves what would be the best delivery alternative, taking into account the importance of disinfection of the product being transported,” said Carla Huamancusi, UPN’s Industrial Design Professor.

The result of their deliberations is Becool – a trailer that attaches to a motorcycle and disinfects products being transported to people’s homes, therefore minimizing the spread of COVID-19.

When products such as supermarket items, online retail purchases and food deliveries are placed inside the trailer, a nebulization process is carried out while the products are in transfer to their delivery destination.

The products are disinfected with organic substances and through the use of ultraviolet light inside the trailer, therefore decontaminating the goods.

The added benefit of the trailer is that drivers are not carrying the delivery on their back, reducing their risk of lower back pain or injury.

The UPN-designed trailer and disinfection system is in the process of registration at the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi). In addition, the student group plans to enter Becool in Indecopi’s Invention Contest 2020 and in Lima Design Week.

Congratulations to students Alexandra Castillo, Edison Gonzales, Diana Paredes, Mery Ann Páucar, Luis Oblitas and Rodrigo Jáuregui and Professor Carla Huamancusi for this significant social impact project that will help address one of the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.