First Rescue by Drone

Fast and done only with a drone.

So, is there a drone that carries a brandy flask, replacing the iconic St. Bernard? Ahh, progress.

Seriously, a very worthwhile development.

A promising development!

This is the drone that was used: https://vimeo.com/190027930

Super fast and quick with Drone

Very cool!

Agree, most impressive, and I expect to see more of this sort of rescue.
It must be remembered that in this case, that the two swimmers were conscious and able to save them selves with the aid of a float dropped by the drone.

We are some way away from a drone being able to save the unconscious or injured victim.

Here in the UK, tests have been carried out using drones not directly to rescue, but to locate persons in trouble in the water. The lifeboat may then proceed directly to the casualty rather than having to search for them.

I also expect to see more use of drones for accidents on land, both to locate victims and to drop supplies.
If a hiker or walker is lost or injured and suffering from dehydration, a litre of water dropped by drone could preserve life whilst rescue is arranged.
Likewise in cold conditions, a blanket and a couple of chemical hand warmers could preserve life.

Great point! I don't know enough about drone tech to know how handy they are for SAR type activities but probably they're promising. The military drones have pretty advanced sensor suites (or at least that's my guess) and can likely use FLIR, etc to find people. Depending on the range I imagine drones could help a lot, especially as the technology gets cheaper. And as you say, just dropping water, food, blankets, etc could save a life.

This link is a news report about use of drones to save life at sea.
BBC news

In this case the drone does not drop supplies, it is to guide the lifeboat quickly to the persons in trouble, without time taken up in searching.

(Most lifeboats in the UK are operated by the RNLI, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a large charity devoted to saving life at sea. The lifeboat featured in this report is operated and crewed by an independent charity.)

http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2017/04/grand_canyon_drone_search.html

This is an account of use of drones last year at Grand Canyon - another excellent application of this technology.

Welcome to the future

There is growing interest in the use of drones by utility companies to patrol overhead lines and look for damage, hot spots and other problems.
Also to check railway lines in places liable to landslides, rockfalls, subsidence, and trees coming down.

If life was at risk such drones could be repurposed to help in searches.

Machine vision and artificial intelligence are progressing to the point where drones used for routine inspection purposes, could notice persons in trouble and report or investigate this.

Persons in trouble have been seen by pilots of aircraft on routine flights, not specifically engaged in searching. It wont be long until drones can recognise persons in trouble.

In Australia, (and presumably elsewhere) lives have been lost on remote roads due to mechanical breakdown and then running out of water before anyone realises.
To reduce the risks, police officers patrol some such roads once a week, and persons driving in such places are warned to carry drinking water for at least a week.
Most such patrols of course find nothing whatsoever, and the skilled and expensive time of two police officers and vehicle is thereby taken up.
Consider the benefits of patrolling by drone instead ! Much cheaper for a start. Despite the advances in machine vision/AI the images would probably have to monitored by a human, but this could be done at much lower cost than two policemen and a car.
Useful employment perhaps for someone physically disabled, but mentally alert.

Good points, Adam2!

Here is a UK news report of a man located by a police force drone, and subsequently saved.

It seems that the victims car crashed, and that he then wandered off and fell into a ditch. Not rational behaviour, but perhaps he was dazed or confused by a bang on the head ?

Temperatures were very low by UK standards and is likely that the victim would have soon perished from hypothermia without the search by the drone.

BBC news, police drone rescue

Moore County NC Drone Rescue

Seems to be getting rather common now.

Very cool.
What are they using for a thermal sensor that is small enough to be carried by a drone?

It doesn't say, but I would guess a FLIR. It can be very small now.

https://www.flir.com/browse/industrial/aerial-kits/

No affiliation.

Excellent -- DJI M200 series
.
I didn’t realize they could make a decent uncooled FLIR. Learn something new...

Wow! Technology rules..This must be the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius for SAR.

FWIW, DJI M200 (Amazon) starts at about $5999 on Amazon and goes up depending on the package you choose. That doesn’t include the FLIR sensor. Goes to say that these are not toys you’ll find under the Christmas tree -- at least not my tree.