The introduction of low cost and light weight commercial drones have brought about a revolution in different industries. From photography and entertainment to inspection and surveying, drones have completely changed their traditional ways. On the other hand, specialized Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are being developed for smart uses, below are some examples.
1. Champagne Delivery at Hotel
The extravagant lodging of “The Mansion at Casa Madrona” at California Bay offers its customers a complimentary service of champagne delivery. The drones are capable of delivering three bottles per trip. These drones are designed with a special compartment which properly secures the bottles and delivers them to the terrace of the customers (Stone, 2017).
Not a champagne person? No worries! The hotel is working on different drones with specialized compartments for other food items like cookies, etc.
2. Storms Monitoring
With a mission to identify the factors which result in the formation of hurricanes, NASA’s Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) has dedicated a UAV, Global Hawk RQ-4 for data collection from places, unsafe for any manned aircraft. The Global Hawks wingspan is 116 feet and it can stay airborne for 30 hours with the help of an efficient jet engine. This drone goes above the storm and films it through state of the art cameras at distances which cannot be risked through a manned aircraft (Conner, 2017).
3. Air Ambulance
Although it might sound a bit from future, but no! an Israeli company, Urban Aeronautics has been developing air ambulance, famously known as the Air Mule which is now called the Cormorant. This air ambulance has a capacity to lift up to 500 kilograms and it can fly for a distance of 50 kilometers (Momon, 2017). The Air Mule can not only rescue people from places very dangerous for rescue workers but it can also be used to supply life saving equipment to stranded people.
References
Momont, Alec (2017). Ambulance Drone. TUDelft.com. Available from: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ide/research/research-labs/applied-labs/ambulance-drone/ [Accessed On: 14 October 2017]
Conner, Monroe (2017). NASA/NOAA Team Deploy Global Hawk to Track Hurricane Matthew. NASA.gov. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/photo_feature/global_hawk_deploys_to_study_matthew.html [Accessed On: 14 October 2017]
Stone, Madeline (2017). A Fancy New Hotel In The Bay Area Is Delivering Champagne To Its Guests By Drone. Businessinsider.com. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-champagne-delivery-2014-5 [Accessed On: 14 October 2017]