UAS to Soon Deliver Medical Supplies in Several States
Delivery by UAS is headed to several states after the White House announced last week that a number of private firms will work with a federally backed program to deliver medical supplies in different states. The efforts will be led by Zipline International, which delivers medical supplies via their drone.
Along with support from Ellumen, ASD Healthcare and a nonprofit called BloodworksNorthwest, Zipline International will deliver medicine to Maryland, Nevada and Washington. The initiative will look to provide aid to remote and hard-to-reach areas, as well as Native American reservations and their surrounding communities.
Through an article on Verge.com, Zipline founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo spoke on the importance of delivering medical supplies to certain areas that are ordinarily very difficult to reach.
“There’s a linear relationship between how far away you live from a city and your expected lifespan,” says Rinaudo. “So our hope is that this type of technology can solve those kinds of inequalities.
Zipline will make the deliveries using their UAS, called Zips. Zips can carry up to three pounds of supplies and can travel up to 75 miles per trip on a single charge.
After regulatory approval, preliminary flights are expected to launch within six months. Some of the medical supplies that will be included on flights are blood, medicine and medical products that can potentially save lives.
Zipline Inc., which was started in 2014, has already worked successfully in Rwanda. The initial flights will be made through several clinics, facilities and distribution centers in the states that they are working in.
