Drones are known for killing people but this one actually saves lives.
Swimming is an art and not everyone can master it immediately.. it takes time. Some people find it very difficult to stay afloat and to help amateur swimmers, Microdrones in collaboration with the German Lifeguard Association has developed a low-flying drone.
According to the German Lifeguard Associations’ (GLA) Robert Rink, “One of the greatest obstacles to rescuing a drowning swimmer is that they panic and we often can’t reach them in time. After seeing what I saw here today, I have no doubt that drones will play a significant role in the near future of water rescue – and that we’ll see fewer fatalities as a result.”
The purpose of this drone is to help people stay above the surface of the water. It carries a self-inflating flotation device called the RESTUBE, which it drops as soon as it becomes airborne. This device helps the swimmer survive until the lifeguards approach and drag him/her back to the shoreline. The drone’s job is also to alert the lifeguard.
The video that demonstrated the working mechanism of this drone was released last week. In the video, it can be seen that the drone is being tested on an actual swimmer at the banks of Elbe River. The drone rapidly flew towards the drowning swimmer after alerting the lifeguards and immediately dropped a small rescue device (RESTUBE) that inflated automatically. The swimmer was able to grab it and stay afloat. Then a human lifeguard approached the swimmer and the person was saved eventually.
Christopher Furhop the founder and CEO of RESTUBE stated that:
“An adult drowns in approximately 60 seconds and a child in only 30. All too often, this is not enough time for the victim to be reached by a lifeguard. Flying over the water is a much quicker way to reach the victim. By combining UAVs and RESTUBE flotation devices, we are able to buy the drowning person valuable time that could very well mean the difference between life and death.”
The drone used in this rescue mission was md4-1000, a quadcopter drone that is equipped with advanced motors, an imaging camera, carbon fiber housing, an integrated GPS system, extremely efficient batteries and many more special features. It must be noted that RESTUBE was the winner of the gold German Founders Award last July and the device has great potential in conducting rescue operations in a variety of application areas.
This marks another addition to the rescue robots family, which already includes the Iran and London’s joint effort called Pars Drone and the crowd-funded Ryptide. Then there is the EMILY Life Preserver robot that performs a similar function as the latest lifeguard drone. So we can expect much more life-saver robots in the future.
Previously, Iran’s RTS Lab tested first ever Pars Rescue Robot Drone with amazing ability to quickly locate drowning victims in the ocean and launch life-preserver floats to them.
MicroDrones ResTube
