HeyGears makes ongoing contribution to healthcare amid pandemic

1/15/2021 Taylor Tucker

The young technology company HeyGears, co-founded by MechSE alumnus Heyuan Huang, had a busy year in 2020.

Written by Taylor Tucker

The young technology company HeyGears, co-founded by MechSE alumnus Heyuan Huang, had a busy year in 2020. In addition to manufacturing supplies for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, the company debuted a plethora of customized, dental- and orthopod-focused 3D-printed devices over the summer at TCT Asia 2020, an international design-to-manufacturing exhibition that focuses on additive manufacturing and 3D printing.

“We consider ourselves more of an enabler of applications than a producer of 3D printers,” Huang said of HeyGears, which also touts digital intelligent manufacturing technologies.

The company, which develops comprehensive intelligent manufacturing solutions for businesses and also 3D prints custom products for consumers, has reached clientele in more than 10 countries and has plans to continue expanding globally.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Illinois launched Illinois RapidVent, an emergency ventilator development project that culminated in a working design licensed by more than 60 external organizations. The design was later licensed by Belkin International, who collaborated with the Illinois research team to develop the “FlexVent” gas-operated portable ventilator.

Meanwhile, HeyGears was producing PPE and medical equipment for frontline healthcare workers. The company teamed up with Illinois to 3D print prototype RapidVent ventilators.

“At HeyGears, we believe that through collaborative innovation, we can fight this pandemic together,” the company said in a statement at the time.

Although generally focused on technologies and solutions for dental and orthopedic applications, HeyGears has also worked within consumer electronics. Read more about their recent work here: https://www.heygears.com/en/111/newsdetail.html


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This story was published January 15, 2021.