AUVSI names six winners to split $30k in annual ‘drones for good’ awards

The Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) has announced the winners of its annual Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards. Six organizations that have led the way in using drones for positive purposes will share in the $30,000 prize.

You’ve no doubt heard of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International. The world’s largest nonprofit organization “dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics, represents corporations and professionals from more than 60 countries involved in industry, government and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil, and commercial markets.” What’s more, AUVSI puts on the annual XPONENTIAL conference — a global gathering of all things drone. While the pandemic has pushed this to a virtual event this year, it’s going ahead next week.

Every year, AUVSI calls for nominations for its Humanitarian and Public Safety awards, meant to highlight the important good work done by drones — and to acknowledge those responsible for that work.

And the winners are…

We’re pleased to see that AUVSI has gone ahead with its annual awards even with the twists and turns wrought by 2020. Today, it announced its Humanitarian and Public Safety Award winners. There are three in each of two categories:

Humanitarian Project/Program

• Nepal Flying Labs, Drones Optimized Therapy Systems
• UMD UAS Test Site, Human Organ Transplant Delivery UAS
• WildTrack, Footprint Identification Technique (FIT)

Public Safety Project/Program

• Chula Vista Police Department, Drone as a First Responder (DFR) Program 
• DRONERESPONDERS, DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance
• Verity, Making Drones Safer with Failsafe by Verity

Here’s a look at Verity’s failsafe algorithm. It allows a quadcopter to be safely controlled even after losing a motor:

AUVSI’s view

The organization is always, and quite rightly, proud to highlight the winners:

The Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards demonstrate the profound ability of the recipients to positively impact lives through unmanned systems technology and create tremendous goodwill for our industry. We proudly recognize the six winners and hope their accomplishments will serve as an inspiration to utilize UAS to accomplish remarkable achievements for our society, which during a global pandemic is needed now more than ever.

Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI

DJI sponsorship

DJI sponsors the awards, worth $30,000 in total. The six winners will split that amount, taking home $5,000 each.

This year’s AUVSI XCELLENCE Award winners highlight the most inspiring ways drone technology has been used over the past year to aid people, animals and the environment. Behind each winner is a dedicated team of professionals whose creativity, ingenuity and perseverance serves as an inspiration to the entire AUVSI community. We applaud them for their outstanding commitment to innovation, as well as creation of standards, and are pleased to see these awards highlight the positive role drone technology plays all over the world.

Wayne Baker, Director of Public Safety Integration at DJI

Congratulations to all the winners!