Drones – In need of a Hollywood breakthrough.

Summary: Positive use-cases to highlight why media can begin portraying Drones in good light.

Most useful for: Readers of Tech who are aware of the military applications of drones. Business students considering employing drones. Enthusiasts of IoT for humanitarian causes.

Several mind-blowing use cases of technology that exist today have been explored by means of imagination in film-making by visionary director Steven Spielberg. Generations of scientists reminisce about their days watching ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘The Matrix’ and correlating them with today’s technology. Many technological innovations – such as humanoid robots, smart-cars, or AI- trace back to product designs influenced by these movies. Different scripts have highlighted, in equal proportion, the good and bad influence these technologies have had on human lives. In contrast, drones seem to have a disadvantage. Terrestrial drones have largely been portrayed only as agent’s intrusion, harm, and terror. Perhaps, a flying object is more intimidating than a smart-car or a flying human!

Do drones deserve the techno-shaming?

Drones have earned their place in enabling human life. They have democratized flight and made it accessible to everyone. This article aims to showcase what Hollywood hasn’t, which is to discuss humanitarian use-cases of drones as used in various industries. Against the right context of privacy, safety and regulation even you can then find some inspiration to prototype with drones for good outcomes.

Let’s review three sectors and the speed in which they affect the human condition.

Industry 1 – Healthcare:

When it comes to healthcare delivery, probably the one aspect that trumps all in determining success is ‘Time’ - the time to become aware, the time to attempt preventive methods, and the time to accessing care when a condition aggravates. This time to access can be minimized by drones especially in rugged terrains with dispersed populations and places with minimal infrastructure.

The UPS Foundation, Zipline, and Gavi recently formed the Vaccine Alliance to begin transporting vaccines to rural areas in Rwanda. If a child in Rwanda’s Rocky Mountains is bitten by a rabid animal, for example, instead of waiting hours to get the necessary vaccine, a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) can deliver it in about 15 minutes. Drone manufacturer Flirtey recently completed the first ship-to-shore drone delivery in the U.S. The mission, held in conjunction with the John Hopkins University School of Medicine and the nonprofit Field Innovation Team (FIT), demonstrated how UAVs can ferry aid such as medical supplies and water during a disaster situation.

Drones are faster than ground transport and cheaper than typical air-transport. They suit all use-cases where some form of freight must be transported over short distances, are high-in-value and perishable. Rather unique to other freight carries, a drone can also transport material within enclosed spaces. They are being used to transport medicine within hospital walls and courier blood between hospital buildings, as well as give elderly patients tools to support them as they age in place. The only option for intra-hospital transfers faster than drones is the Pneumatic tube transport (tubes built into hospital walls that move material across departments and floors using air-pressure). Drones beat these tubes in their flexibility around routes, increased payload size, and the fact that they do not require specialized infrastructure.

Drone are being used to courier blood between hospital buildings

Industry 2 – Agriculture

Two trends in combination with one another might make drones a staple aid in sustainable agriculture in the coming decade (suggests a PWC report Jan 2019) – population growth to 9 billion by 2050 indicating an agricultural consumption growth of 70% and extreme weather events due to global warming.

Drones can be influential in every stage of the crop cycle. They produce precise 3-D maps for early soil analysis, useful in planning seed planting patterns. After planting, drone-driven soil analysis provides data for irrigation and nitrogen-level management. Startups like BioCarbon Engineering have created drone-planting systems that achieve an uptake rate of 75 percent and decrease planting costs by 85 percent. Drones allow the calculation of the vegetation index, which describes the relative density and health of the crop, and shows the heat signature, the amount of energy or heat the crop emits.

While satellite imaging does help monitor crop infestations and nutrient deficiencies, several obstacles arise in disseminating this information in a timely manner to farmers. The problem is furthermore complicated when mechanized sprays or aircraft broadcasting are used spread fertilizers over large areas in a short duration. Inability to meter doses and target results in excess crop-sprays that pollute ground-water. Drones can scan the ground and spray the correct amount of liquid, modulating distance from the ground and spraying in real time for even coverage. This real-time tracking and mitigation response can improve farmer insurance outcomes and relief monitoring.

Industry 3 – Civic welfare

We are well aware of how drones have been used in military applications (thanks to Hollywood and U.S. Army Drone Strikes in Terrorism prone areas). We naturally assume therefore that drones will soon be adopted by local law-enforcement. While we magnify our fear of the noose getting tighter, we overlook several use-cases in which drones in fact help us adhere to the law easier. This last section of this article is probably the most eye-opening part of my literature review.

A student team in the Philippines is exploring a subscription-based distribution of “Emergency Strobe Lights” using Drones.

Imagine you are taking a road-test. You will need to go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), get an inspector onto your car and drive on the suggested route. Now, imagine replacing that inspector with a drone. A research project at UC Berkeley suggests that the utilization rate of DMVs can more than triple with drones. By subscribing to driving tests evaluated by drones, drivers get more attempts at the test, equality in evaluation, and can receive their licences with shorter wait-times. Basically, drones help maximize the supply-side capacity and quality of driving tests with minimal investment. Another interesting scenario is in ambulance services. More than 40% of ambulance vehicles do not use the life-support utilities available in them when their siren is on. They are merely rushing to or rushing back from a place where a patient needs care. A student team in the Philippines is exploring a subscription-based distribution of “Emergency Strobe Lights” using Drones. Any vehicle can then lend itself useful in an emergency using a suspended drone guiding navigation. We needn’t break the law in an emergency the next time.

Whether it is driving assistance, information dispersal, benefits disbursement, toll collection, collecting court-evidence or civic-auditing, drones offer better speed and reach. In the cases where communities have had better and faster access to the benefits of law, adherence to law seems to be high as well. Enabling this, drones can make dreams possible in the civic sector.

Hollywood Breakthrough

What cars did to horses, drones can do to carrier pigeons. The last time we became fascinated by a drone was when Marcus Fischer’s robotic bird took flight in TED 2011. Even though today’s drones don’t come in the form of a bird and are designed mostly for functionality, they present far too many positive use-cases that we must uncover. To strip aside the mass hysteria around the demonization of drones, we probably need a Hollywood breakthrough!

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Karthik is a student of Babson College MBA’19. He is passionate about the marketing tangible hi-tech products. In this article, he discusses some of his insights researching upon Drones as they ‘cross the chasm’ in the Technology Adoption Curve.

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References:

1. "United States: UPS Creates Global Partnership with Zipline and Gavi to Transform Delivery of Humanitarian Aid and Life-Saving Vaccines with Drones", 2016, MENA Report.
2. Johns Hopkins Medicine; Proof-of-concept study shows successful transport of blood samples with small drones 2015, Atlanta.
3. Chris Woodford:” Pneumatic tube transport,” ExplainThatStuff (February 7, 2019)
4. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601935/six-ways-drones-are-revolutionizing-agriculture/
5. Stella Mikhailova: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/pro-journo/using-ex-military-drones_b_8414532.html [16 December, 2017]
6. Krishna, KR 2017, Push Button Agriculture: Robotics, Drones, Satellite-Guided Soil and Crop Management, Apple Academic Press, Oakville. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [20 February 2019].
7. Data on drones 2013, Los Angeles, Calif.