Drones bringing medicines

Categories:

• Technology
• Society

by Esteban Tejedor

Posted on June 24, 2020

In a time of pandemic, drones are being used to reach the most remote rural areas to bring medical supplies. There are companies like Zipline, delivering medical supplies to Ghana and Rwanda, or Zapallar in Chile.

Fast delivery allows these items to land as quickly as possible in these rural hospitals. Taking supplies by air instead of transporting them by car or truck over rough terrain, which takes hours, shortens the journey and minimises direct human interaction, sheltering logistics staff from contagion.

In the case of Zipline company, for example, the operation is very simple: doctors simply enter their orders and requests through their application and then they can monitor them online.

The flight of each drone is fully autonomous and is controlled by the distribution centre. Drones can take off within minutes of receiving an order and reach their destination in a short period of time between 15 and 30 minutes.

The drone designed by the company is suitable for all kinds of climates - they face a lot of wind, precipitation and dust storms - and a single battery charge can last a round trip of 300 kilometres.