More Good Than Bad

A Drone Just Made The First Life-Saving Organ Delivery

10/14/2021

A drone organ delivery just saved a life for the first time! A 63 year old man from Ontario on oxygen support received a pair of lungs from a drone that reached him in just six minutes. Hospitals with access to these drones could create a new standard for transporting organs.

Scientists tested the carbon-fibre drone 53 times before approving it for the historic flight. It also had a ballistic parachute in case an engine failed or the drone shifted or descended too fast.

"We've used planes and helicopters and cars and vans, and frequently there's a challenge in logistics. But it seems not right to use a whole Learjet to transport something that weighs only two kilograms," Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, the director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program at UHN.

Researchers hope to create networks that transport organs to organ repair centers to optimize and prepare them for drones to send to recipient hospitals everywhere.

Source: Link

A New Drone Can Dash Through The Forest At 40 kph

10/10/2021

Scientists created an autonomous drone that is faster than previous models and effortlessly moves throughout forest terrain. Previous drones were costly, but this gives the public a chance to have a reasonably priced new drone.

The drone reaches speeds of up to 40 kph. It does not use traditional methods to understand the environment. It does not collect data first or create a map to know the area in advance. The drone makes a direct mapping of sensor input from a stereo depth camera to collision-free trajectories. This method allows the speed to improve substantially in complex environments.

"While humans require years to train, the AI, leveraging high-performance simulators, reaches comparable navigation abilities much faster, basically overnight," says Antonio Loquercio, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Zurich.

Drones such as this can help give researchers new and faster ways to capture imaging of challenging environments that may be too dangerous for humans.

Source: Link

Weeding Robots Are Replacing Pesticides

7/11/2021

Farmers invented a new way to use robots in weed control. The robot is used to behead weeds quickly. Some farms pick weeds manually to make sure that pesticides do not damage the crops. This robot will help to keep more crops along with making the farmer's job much more manageable.

The computer monitored robots currently work with soybean crops. The farmers are preparing for it to start working with sorghum, cotton, and possibly canola farms. They travel from 1 to 3 mph and are water-resistant, weighing about 200 pounds.

"Our mission was always to get the chemicals out of farming. There is no resistance to the spinning blade," says Clint Brauer, a Kansas farmer and founder of Greenfield Robotics.

The U.S.A is the world's largest user and producer of agricultural pesticides, utilizing 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides in 2016. Robots like these would lead to healthier and safer ways to control weeds.

Source: Link

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A Drone Just Made The First Life-Saving Organ Delivery

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