Drones for Good: At Work in the Amazon Rainforest

Patrick Meier and his group of digital humanitarians is at work once more – this time bringing their Flying Labs to the Amazon rainforest.

WeRobotics is a group of entrepreneurs, drone adventurers and humanitarians bringing robotics expertise to communities for social good.  Their “Flying Labs” are collaborative establishments round the world the place expertise is shared and data transferred to native communities. The WeRobotics Peru Flying Lab has now efficiently examined drone supply of vital medical provides to distant areas of the Amazon.

“The Amazon is home to thousands of local indigenous communities spread across very remote areas. As a result, these sparsely populated communities rarely have reliable access to essential medicines and public health services,” says WeRobotic’s report on the mission. “Local doctors in the region of Contamana report an average of 45 snakebites per month and no rapid access to antivenom, for example.”

The Peru Flying Lab group labored with the Peruvian Ministry of Health and native docs to field-test drone supply of anti-venom, was flown from the city of Contamana to the extra distant village of Pampa Hermosa about 40 kilometers away.  The flight was profitable, and took about 35 minutes – in contrast with the 6 hour canoe journey that it will usually take.  The drone made the return journey to Contamana carrying blood samples.

WeRobotics eschews costly cargo expertise, as a substitute utilizing “affordable and locally repairable” options.  Following the success of those first drone deliveries, the Ministry of Health has invited the group to hold out additional checks; WeRobotics can also be utilizing the info gleaned from the trials to try deliveries of higher than 100km utilizing reasonably priced drones and dealing on a Zika-control mission.

For extra details about WeRobotics or the way you may assist the WeRobotics native Flying Labs groups in Peru, Nepal and/or Tanzania, contact Peter Mosur ([email protected]).