Drones for good

Leading instant logistics company Zipline has said it has made over a million drone deliveries of COVID-19 vaccination doses in Ghana, marking another milestone in its efforts to help governments in Africa and around the globe broaden access to healthcare, improving treatment capabilities through fast and effective supply distribution.

According to company lore, CEO Blake Resnick developed BRINC’s Lemur drone to assist law enforcement and security services in responding to the kinds of horror he witnessed during the 2017 Mandalay Bay shootings in his Las Vegas hometown – a helping hand the precocious tech boss is now extending to Ukraine rescue workers grappling with the nightmare inflicted by invading Russian troops. 

A member of Wales’ national legislature has raised over $56,000 in donations for the purchase of specialized drones to be used by Ukrainian medics trying to locate and treat people injured amid the Russian invasion of the country.

Swiss vertical takeoff and landing aircraft company Wingtra will be giving away three WingtraOne drones as prizes in its new Earth Day Challenge, whose winners will be selected on the merits of their proposed environmental or humanitarian projects.

Australian air logistics and drone delivery specialist Swoop Aero has marked another milestone in its healthcare operations in Malawi by delivering Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations requiring ultra-cold supply chain conditions.

Opponents of UAVs claiming the tech poses a threat to personal privacy will dismay at this news. Scottish researchers have deployed drones to differentiate pregnant females from others in populations of dolphins. Thus far none of the Ms. Flippers has objected.

Instant logistics specialist Zipline has further expanded its already broad footprint in Africa by starting work on a new medical drone delivery hub in Nigeria’s Cross River State.

Australian UAV delivery company Swoop Aero has added another impressive item to its “drones for good” list, thanks to its life-saving work delivering vaccinations and medical supplies to distant, often difficult-to-access destinations in central Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A project in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is pairing sensor-equipped drones with machine-learning applications in an effort to automate the identification and mapping of marine waste and create effective methods for its collection and disposal. 

Canadian drone services specialist Volatus Aerospace is partnering with a US company to provide fully integrated mobile command centers to first responders and other UAV operators in public safety missions. 

Researchers in Wales are using a mix of tech assets including drones to monitor the erosion of the country’s coastline, which has accelerated from rising sea levels produced by global warming.

Specialized Swedish drone services company Everdrone has long been an innovator in public UAV operations, but last month it actually made history when one of its craft flew an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to a man in Sweden who’d suffered a cardiac arrest, saving his life.

Led by World Wildlife Foundation Australia, a team of concerned organizations is mounting a drone-powered effort to create a “koala corridor” of trees and foliage to restore the marsupial’s habitat wiped out by recent fires, and reverse its population decline.

Drone logistics company Swoop Aero has made some pretty impressive inroads in commercial services this year, but of late has turned heads in once again expanding its version of Ziplines’ “drones for good” in making medical deliveries across Africa.

For all those first responders out there who’ve been a bit tardy in taking advantage of a nice opportunity, here’s good news. Connecticut-based UAV tech, cloud, and software solutions provider Aquiline Drones has announced it is extending its offer to provide free pilot training and education to emergency and rescue workers for another six months.

In a deal with Ivory Coast’s government, Instant Logistics specialist Zipline is broadening its activities in Africa to operate drone deliveries of medical supplies throughout the large West African nation.

UK drone manufacturer and humanitarian assistance specialist UAVaid successfully completed the first uncrewed aerial delivery of medicines in Sierra Leone, opening the way for wider healthcare operations to follow.

Avy, a Dutch aviation company, has unveiled a new drone solution through which autonomous drones can be deployed instantly for urgent and lifesaving missions.

Amid the spate of giant blazes that burned over 6 million acres of land in the US this year alone, the flight of private UAVs in emergency zones have been repeatedly blamed for hampering efforts to extinguish the flames. Now the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also praising the ways drones have become a vital tool for firefighters battling wildfires.

Enterprising officials from the Minnesota town of Warren are using drones equipped with thermal sensors to gauge heat seepage from local buildings and houses as part of a public service to help homeowners cut spending on energy.

As far as UAV flights go, this one supremely qualifies as beyond visual line of sight. Last month, Swedish specialized drone services company Everdrone successfully controlled the delivery of an automated external defibrillator (AED) from a distance of 800 kilometers away – and an entirely different country.