A recent video posted by NBC News points out that drones are being used in Greece to monitor and keep beachgoers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a result of great weather and a loosening of restrictions that are allowing many to swarm the beach and enjoy the sun for the first time in a while.
India‘s agriculture ministry is looking to drone technology to fight against locust swarms that have infested the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh. India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has given the go-ahead for the drones to be used in the fight.
Volcanos are most interesting when they are most active. But that’s also when they are most dangerous. Now volcanologists are using drones to get close-up views of volcanos without putting themselves at risk.
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In need of a checkup? If you’re in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, you may get one whether you want to or not. The city is deploying drones with infrared cameras to spot residents who may have fevers due to COVID-19.
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Fotokite already offers a clever response to two challenges for deploying drones: limited battery life and the need for a certified pilot. And now it’s tackling a third challenge with its new product: How to deploy a drone as quickly as possible in a first responder situation.
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Virtually all public sporting events are closed down due to the coronavirus. But when venues consider reopening, a New York-based drone company is offering a solution to keep them germ free by spraying disinfectant from above.
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To see the future of drones, just visit Africa today. That’s especially true in Rwanda, which is likely the most drone-friendly country in the world. So it was a fitting place to host the African Drone Forum and its public service drone competition earlier this year, before COVID-19 made such gatherings impossible. The winners were just announced this week.
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Since 2016, Rwanda has been leading the world in using drones to serve its people. Now that work continues with a new program delivering chemotherapy meds in the era of COVID-19 social distancing.
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There’s grim work to do in Syria after a decade of devastating war. French drone maker Parrot has been assisting with some somber but critical work—investigating mass graves left by ISIS and other militias in Syria. The company furnished its drones, plus software and support, for surveying an area in the north of the country.
The dark age of the coronavirus is shaping up to be a golden age of drone innovation. We’re seeing a boon in delivery drones, for instance, as well as a new class of diagnostic drones. The latest comes from students at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University: A drone that can a hear a COVID-19 cough.
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If anyone knows the name “Draganfly,” it may be from an unfortunate news story from last week. The Canadian company’s plan to test a coronavirus-monitoring “pandemic drone” in Westport, Connecticut, came to a halt when anxious citizens and civil rights advocates got wind of it.
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Australian drone delivery company Swoop Aero is looking to transport COVID-19 test kits around Australia to reduce the need for human interaction during this time. Swoop Aero is working with the federal government and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to get the drones off the ground.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant complex in Ukraine remains one of the most dangerous places on earth, 34 years after the fire that released massive amounts of radiation. In early April, wildfires threatened to cross into the exclusion zone, stirring up the radioactive remnants of the site.
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Public service drones have entered the popular consciousness as they are deployed more and more in the COVID-19 response. But local government agencies like police and fire departments have already been using drones to scout dangerous situations before sending people in. California-based drone maker Skydio has just launched a program to donate free drones for these operations.
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The Chilean beach town of Zapallar is famous for the palatial homes of the country’s rich and famous dotting its coastline. But in the interior, it’s a low-income community with poor infrastructure. Now the town is using drones to help cut travel times for delivering medical supplies and to support social distancing.
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UPS partnered with Workhorse Group, Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), and DroneUp to complete various tests to see how drones can be used to assist medical professionals in the fight against COVID-19. The tests evaluated the commercial drone industry’s ability to step up and produce drones to aid the U.S. healthcare system.
Like seemingly everything else in America, COVID-19 has become a political issue. And politics has now extended to the use of drones in the fight against the coronavirus.
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Zipline has long been the model for drone delivery services. And it’s been setting the example in Africa, first in Rwanda, and then in Ghana. Zipline set another milestone on April 17, with the first drone delivery of COVID-19 medical test samples.
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COVID-19 has changed a lot about civic life in the US — and around the world. Mayors and governors have issued sweeping stay-at-home orders, for instance. But while drones have made headlines with a few prominent deployments, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not altered its strict regulations for the technology.
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California has by far the largest homeless population in the United States, with more than 150,000 unhoused people. They are often pushed out of city centers and into the countryside, making it difficult for public services to reach them. Now the city of Chula Vista in San Diego County is using drones to find those in need.
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While its rate of infections is still quite low, India is getting very aggressive in tackling the new coronavirus. Along with using drones to chase down people who break stay-at-home orders, it’s now developing powerful COVID-19 disinfectant drones to kill the virus.
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With much of the world under lockdown orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, we’ve seen drones play a bigger and bigger enforcement role. Indian authorities have been among the most aggressive in the world recruiting drones to enforce COVID-19 lockdowns.
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Someday, the COVID-19 lockdowns will end, and we will return to offices, malls, and entertainment venues. However, we’ll want to make sure they are free — and remain free — of the virus. Now a new disinfecting drone aims to do that for large indoor spaces.
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