Back in late summer of 2019 (remember those halcyon days?), I noticed that May 2, 2020 was ‘International Drone Day’. So I planned a Henry’s High-tech Highlight post for this week on that topic.
The world is in a different place now than when I penciled that into my calendar. But as the week of May 2 approached, it struck me as still being an interesting highlight for this time.
You may recall that in 2013, Amazon announced plans to start a drone delivery service. I recollect feeling wonder-struck at this futuristic concept becoming real, imagining that our lives would soon become even more like science fiction. I thought the sight of autonomous flying robots zipping about their business above us as we conducted our lives down on the ground would soon become commonplace. Drones weren’t new in 2013; they had become a popular item for consumers a few years before. Once they had cameras attached and could be controlled by our smartphones, people wanted to give them a spin. Many libraries were quick to embrace this exciting new technology and began offering programming to showcase how it worked, as well as checking them out to patrons to try out at home.
Fast forward to today. It’s been seven years and Amazon’s drone delivery service has yet to take flight. Doesn’t it sure sound nice right about now? Many of us are social distancing and having varying degrees of difficulty in receiving even basic supplies like toiletries, pharmaceuticals, and groceries. Although items can be delivered directly to our homes, we rely on human drivers who may be putting themselves at risk. A remote-controlled robot that descends from the sky to drop toilet paper on my doorstep? Yes, please.
To some, drones may seem like they’re passe, a passing fad, part of a hypothetical future that never came to be. But despite the lack of an Amazon delivery highway in the skies above our neighborhoods, we’ve come a long way in the last ten years. There are a lot of really exciting things going on that I’d love to highlight for you. Drones are still worth buzzing about.
Today’s highlight: Drones
COVID-19 and Drones
It’s been interesting to see how emerging technologies can, well, emerge during times of crises such as what we’re going through now. Before we get to more general uses for drones, here are some instances when drones have been deployed in the pandemic:
- To deliver supplies to residents: If you are a resident of Christiansburg, Virginia, you can already experience what it would be like to get your supplies via drone at this time. Google has a pilot project there called Wing launched in September 2019 with little idea they would be testing things out during a pandemic six months later.
- To enforce social distancing (in China, France, New Jersey, Florida, etc.):
Camera drones survey public areas for citizens violating social distancing rules, and through an intercom, are scolded by the authorities. - To take temperatures and even issue fines:
A heat map captured by a drone can determine people’s temperatures and alert nearby law enforcement to intervene if there are fevers.
Source; Image Credit: AFP
Police surveillance to track people raises many privacy concerns. The ACLU sued Baltimore this month regarding the city’s new “eye in the sky” surveillance program.
- To disinfect:
- At hospitals, institutions, parks, etc.
- Inside with ultraviolet light
Outside of COVID-19, drones are still taking off. An article in the Wall Street Journal from last October outlined a lot of their upward momentum (sorry, I can’t not make drone puns).
Here’s a rundown of uses for drones you may not be aware of:
Medical
- Blood
- In Rwanda, they can cut a treacherous 4-hour road journey to just 30 minutes. Drones delivered 5,500 units of blood to Rwandan regional hospitals over a12-month period, leading to a reduction in maternal deaths and fewer cases of malaria-induced anemia! Source: beautifulnews.daily
- In Rwanda, they can cut a treacherous 4-hour road journey to just 30 minutes. Drones delivered 5,500 units of blood to Rwandan regional hospitals over a12-month period, leading to a reduction in maternal deaths and fewer cases of malaria-induced anemia! Source: beautifulnews.daily
- Medicine
- Even DIY to help stranded neighbors during flooding
Farming and pest control
- Drones with crop sensors significantly improve the efficiency of agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers and water, and improve environmental impact. It saves the farmers thousands of dollars every year. Though primarily used for grains, a recent study is exploring how drones can even help fruit growers by:
- taking inventory of tree height and canopy volume
- monitoring tree health and quality;
- managing water, nutrients, pests and disease in-season;
- estimating fruit/nut production and yield; and,
- creating marketing tools (videos for promotion of the orchard, or sale of trees and fruit).
- Pesticide-spraying to accelerate sustainable farming
- Eradicate locust swarms ravaging crops to curb hunger crises
- Planting trees by firing “seed missiles” to restore the world’s forests
- Dropping baits to poison invasive wilderness pests to support indigenous wildlife and with enough accuracy to avoid endangered species
Drone photos to 3D Print
Here’s a cool idea: Use your drone to take photos of of a subject (like a building), and then make it with a 3D printer.
Other compelling applications
- Firefighting
- Improving internet access in underserved areas
- Tracking poachers to protect wildlife
- Conducting safety inspections
- As a source of renewable energy
- As AI-controlled swarms to autonomously explore
- As robot bees to pollinate crops (as Walmart patented for in 2018)
Speaking of swarms and insects…
Check out this recent video from PBS of a camera drone disguised as a hummingbird which was able to capture never before seen footage of monarch swarms:
Libraries and Drones
Anything new going on?
Thanks for asking. Here are a few I found:
- Delivering books, naturally (still a bit of a ways off though)
- Scanning shelves to conduct inventories (happening in Japan)
Source: A librarian monitors a flying drone to scan bookshelves at a library in the Nishifuna 1-chome district of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, on March 12. (Shigeo Hirai)
Suggest a drone simulation video game to teens currently at home. They can get started playing with this emerging technology and practice flying one until they get the real thing. Here’s a free one.
What about you? Anything I missed about drones? Send any further ideas, even flights of fancy (sorry), to ld@tsl.texas.gov care-of Henry Stokes.
A big thanks to LDN Office Assistant Tomas Mendez for his help researching links for this month’s highlight!
