Autonomous AED drone revealed
A graduate student of the Technology University of Delft, has designed an unmanned, autonomously navigating UAV that can deliver a defibrillator.
Alec Momont, a graduate student of the Technology University of Delft, has designed an unmanned, autonomously navigating UAV that can deliver a defibrillator to where it is needed. The University asserted that a network of such drones could increase the chance of survival following a cardiac arrest from eight per cent to 80 per cent.
The concept is that when the emergency services receive a cardiac arrest call, the UAV can quickly deliver a defibrillator to the emergency scene. Via a live video and audio connection, the drone can also provide direct feedback to the emergency services and the persons on site can be instructed how to treat the patient. The drone finds the patient’s location via the caller’s mobile phone signal and makes its way there using GPS.
“It is essential that the right medical care is provided within the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest,” said Momont. “If we can get to an emergency scene faster we can save many lives and facilitate the recovery of many patients. This especially applies to emergencies such as heart failure, drownings, traumas and respiratory problems, and it has become possible because lifesaving technologies, such as a defibrillator, can now be designed small enough to be transported by a drone.”
The student went on to explain that some 800,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the European Union every year, and yet only eight per cent survive, due, he said, to ‘the relatively long response time of the emergency services’ (approximately 10 minutes). Brain death and fatalities can occur within four to six minutes, Momont added. He estimated that the drone can get a defibrillator to a patient inside a 12 km2 zone within one minute.
Although the first prototype has been designed to transport a defibrillator, the aircraft could be adapted to take other medical equipment, with a weight limit of around four kilograms (nine pounds). Cost should not be an issue, said Momont, as the drones will cost around €15,000 each: “[This] is clearly a reasonable amount if you consider the number of lives that could be saved.”