AUVSI has announced one of this year’s AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards.  The world’s largest drone manufacturer, DJI, sponsored the 2020 AUVSI XCELLENCE Humanitarian and Public Safety Award for drone missions that help people, animals, and the environment.

“Six organizations that pioneer new ways to use drones for good are winners of the XCELLENCE Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards from the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI). The award, which is sponsored by DJI, will be announced on October 8 during AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2020,” says an AUVSI press release.

“This year’s AUVSI XCELLENCE Award winners highlight the most inspiring ways drone technology has been used over the past year to aid people, animals and the environment,” said Wayne Baker, Director of Public Safety Integration at DJI. “Behind each winner is a dedicated team of professionals whose creativity, ingenuity and perseverance serves as an inspiration to the entire AUVSI community. We applaud them for their outstanding commitment to innovation, as well as creation of standards, and are pleased to see these awards highlight the positive role drone technology plays all over the world.”

“The recipients of 2020 AUVSI XCELLENCE Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards are pioneering a much more profound implementation of drone technology,” says the press release. “These awards recognize three organizations and/or individuals in each category that have made a significant impact using unmanned systems to serve in humanitarian or public safety efforts.”

This year’s recipients are:

Humanitarian Project/Program

• Nepal Flying Labs, Drones Optimized Therapy Systems 
• UMD UAS Test Site, Human Organ Transplant Delivery UAS 
• WildTrack, Footprint Identification Technique (FIT)

Public Safety Project/Program

• Chula Vista Police Department, Drone as a First Responder (DFR) Program
• DRONERESPONDERS, DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance
• Verity, Making Drones Safer with Failsafe by Verity

“The Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards demonstrate the profound ability of the recipients to positively impact lives through unmanned systems technology and create tremendous good will for our industry” said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI. “We proudly recognize the six winners and hope their accomplishments will serve as an inspiration to utilize UAS to accomplish remarkable achievements for our society, which during a global pandemic is needed now more than ever.”

The five organizations will equally divide a $30,000 prize for their ground-breaking humanitarian and public safety efforts.