Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2020

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Bee Bellows, AIRA

This is a Bee bellows.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Tyler Mantel as part of Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics.

It is dated 2020. Its medium is plastic. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.

Robotics engineer Tyler Mantel founded the Ventilator Project to create AIRA, an emergency ventilator that can be stored compactly and mobilized quickly in regions lacking medical stockpiles, from the rural USA to middle-income nations. The prototype for AIRA uses a bee bellows to move air without an external source, enabling the device to be used outside a hospital setting. The FDA approved AIRA for emergency use in March 2021.

It is credited Courtesy of AIRA.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 30.5 × 27.9 × 30.5 cm (12 × 11 × 12 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805675/ |title=Bee Bellows, AIRA |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=7 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>