Italian company ‘Elite Consulting’, a DJI Enterprise Dealer since 2008, reports it is the first in the world to design a box suitable for the transport of swabs and small medicines by the Matrice ‘200 series’ drone.
According to a DJI press release, the unmanned craft is equipped with two boxes and can fly during light rain to ensure continuity of operations. Due to the box resistance, in the event of an accident, it is ensured that the biological material cannot make contact with the surrounding environment.
Through BVLOS operations it is possible to enter the outbreak areas and help people in quarantine without the need to send personnel from the ground who could be at risk of contagion.
The maximum distance flown is around 5 Km. If an elderly person requires urgent medicine, for example, this can be delivered in as little as two minutes. After the drone lands instructions are given by phone to the patient on how to retrieve the medicine from the box.
Meanwhile, swabs are delivered with guidance on how to use them. In the USA, they are conveyed by post and then used independently by the patient before being sent to the laboratory.
The box was tested last year in a joint trial by ENAC and the Naples Monandi hospital. It was intended for the transport of biological samples, but has currently been adapted to help the Coronavirus emergency. Other European countries are showing great interest in the project.
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