Article Development of a Dynamic Hands-Free Door Opener to Prevent COVID-19 Pandemic Spreading Vítor Maranha 1,2, Pedro Maia 3,4, Luís Margalho 1 , Nicolle Lourenço 5 , Diogo Oliveira 5, Diogo Maurício 6, João F. Caseiro 6 and Luis Roseiro 1,2,* 1 Coimbra Polythecnic-ISEC, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal;
[email protected] (V.M.);
[email protected] (L.M.) 2 Center for Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Processes (CEMMPRE), University of Coimbra, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal 3 Polytechnic of Coimbra, ESEC, Rua Dom João III—Solum, 3030-329 Coimbra, Portugal;
[email protected] 4 Department of Communication, Campus Universitário de Santiago, [ID+] Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture, Art University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal 5 Shapetek, R. António Champalimaud 10-A, 3100-514 Pombal, Portugal;
[email protected] (N.L.);
[email protected] (D.O.) 6 Centimfe, Z.I. Casal da Lebre, Rua da Espanha, Lt8, 2430-028 Marinha Grande, Portugal;
[email protected] (D.M.);
[email protected] (J.F.C.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +351-967845829 Abstract: The situation caused by COVID-19 has shown several vulnerabilities in the attitudes and habits of modern society, inducing the need to adopt new behaviors that will directly impact daily activities. The quickly spreading virus contaminates the surfaces of handles and objects, and subsequent contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth is one of the main contagion factors. There is an urgent need to rethink how we interact with the most-touched surfaces, such as door handles in Citation: Maranha, V.; Maia, P.; public places with a high flux of people.