Swiss drone delivery company RigiTech has further expanded its zone of international activity with the launch of trial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of medical supplies in Uruguay.
Having previously notched up BVLOS drone deliveries of medical payloads in both France and its domestic Swiss market, RigiTech announced its Eiger UAV has now taken wing in a four-month test operation shuttling supplies between Uruguay’s Tacuarembó Hospital (ASSE) and three regional clinics. It said payloads included maternal breast milk, blood samples, and medicine.
Read: RigiTech starts unprecedented BVLOS drone delivery in France
RigiTech said the initial outings of its 15-liter payload capacity, 100-kilometer-range drone in trials launched earlier this month were the first BVLOS flights in Latin America.
In addition to providing the craft and its operating system, the Lausanne-based company is monitoring aerial activity during the project through its RigiCloud remote planning, piloting, and mission communication software.
RigiTech is participating in the medical drone delivery test run with Spanish-Uruguayan company CIELUM, ASSE, biomedical engineers, and the nation’s National Directorate of Civil Aviation and Aeronautical Infrastructure, which approved the BVLOS flights.
As part of the trial of medical drone deliveries to Uruguay’s largest region, project partners have created a vertiport at ASSE, featuring a hangar and lighting equipment to permit nighttime BVLOS flights. According to hospital director Ciro Ferreira, introduction of UAV transportation of vital supplies between facilities will increase both the speed and quality of care patients receive.
“This air logistics strategy will allow us to bring the territory closer, and be at the side of our ASSE users, shorten the time in the diagnosis and treatment of people who live in rural areas, without the need to come to the hospital,” said Ferreira. “The delivery of samples for examinations and their processing in the central laboratory can be done quickly, and will serve rural doctors for adequate decision-making in a timely manner, as well as a greater collection of pasteurized human milk for our newborns… It will also be possible to deliver medical supplies or specific medicines to the polyclinics, in specific situations that do not admit delays, such as the shipment of anti-venom serum.”
RigiTech previously launched routine, regulator approved BVLOS medical deliveries in France, as well as drone transport of supplies between hospitals in Geneva.
Read: RigiTech’s payload innovation enables landing-free drone delivery to Denmark’s wind farms
Earlier this month, the company also announced it had successfully tested its specialized payload lowering system that enables fast and precise transportation of parts to offshore Danish wind farms – an innovation permitting its drone to deliver replacement equipment without needing to land.
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