Drones for Good: At Work in the Amazon Rainforest

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

WeRobotics is a team of entrepreneurs, drone adventurers and humanitarians bringing robotics technology to communities for social good.  Their “Flying Labs” are collaborative institutions around the world where technology is shared and knowledge transferred to local communities. The WeRobotics Peru Flying Lab has now successfully tested drone delivery of critical medical supplies to remote 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 project. “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 team worked with the Peruvian Ministry of Health and local doctors to field-test drone delivery of anti-venom, was flown from the town of Contamana to the more remote village of Pampa Hermosa about 40 kilometers away.  The flight was successful, and took about 35 minutes – compared with the 6 hour canoe trip that it would normally take.  The drone made the return trip to Contamana carrying blood samples.

WeRobotics eschews expensive cargo technology, instead using “affordable and locally repairable” solutions.  Following the success of these first drone deliveries, the Ministry of Health has invited the team to carry out further tests; WeRobotics is also using the information gleaned from the trials to attempt deliveries of greater than 100km using affordable drones and working on a Zika-control project.

For more information about WeRobotics or how you might support the WeRobotics local Flying Labs teams in Peru, Nepal and/or Tanzania, contact Peter Mosur (peter@werobotics.org).