Draganfly drone set to disinfect stadiums from COVID-19: Video

A new video released by Dragonfly shows a new capability for one of its products: spraying disinfectant over seats and surfaces in stadiums.

Drones were an obvious choice for certain tasks during the global pandemic. They’ve been used to shuttle COVID-19 testing supplies and medication, warn people to wear masks, and even by law enforcement to monitor protests that have taken place since COVID-19 began dominating the planet. Colleague Josh Spires wrote recently about their use in Australia to monitor beaches during the pandemic. So there has been no shortage of use cases.

And here’s another one.

Drones as sanitizers

We saw a little bit of this in China, in the early phase of the pandemic. DJI Agras agricultural spraying drones were deployed – sometimes with DJI staff – to spray disinfectant from the air. And now, a variation on that theme is being highlighted in a new video from drone pioneer Draganfly.

The video shows a Draganfly product not dissimilar to the Agras T16 – which was developed for spraying fertilizer and herbicide over densely packed crops (it’s especially popular with land that is intensively cultivated, like rice paddies).

In terms of a stadium, it’s an approach that makes sense. You could disinfect an entire stadium in a fraction of the time it would take for a spray to be manually applied. Plus, you don’t put workers at risk by having them work in an area where they might possibly become infected.

A new video from Draganfly shows their product… and the process:

Not the first, nor the last

We’d written before about the Lucid Technologies D1 disinfecting drone. It was being put to use in Atlanta:

Draganfly sees demand for pandemic drone solutions

While a disinfecting drone is perhaps an obvious solution to one particular type of problem, Draganfly has also delved into other areas. It has other screening technology designed to anonymously detect fever, coughing, and other symptoms that are associated with COVID-19 infection. It can even detect if people are being compliant with social distancing guidelines and mask wearing.

Here’s Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell:

The three “Ds”

It’s often been said that drones are perfect for work that is dirty, dull, or dangerous. COVID 19, one might argue, checks off all of those “D”s.

And with many, many months left before this pandemic is controlled, let’s hope these tools are both effective – and implemented.