The Future of Drones in the Emergency Medical Space

With all the capabilities drones have, there is one that remains a huge asset and will surely be developed in the future. According to Ria Roy (2017), "The plan is to use unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, “to ship manufactured lungs and other organs from production facilities to hospitals for transportation” (pg. 1). I completely agree with using technology in this field, in order to help people in emergency need. The application of using drones to transport packages through cities is already coming to life. We have companies all over the world innovating and increasing the payload amount of their existing drones. It is only a matter of time before we are able to transport hundreds of pounds via UAV, but is that necessary? Maybe not. Most companies operate drones with less than 50lbs of payload, and seem to be getting a lot of jobs done faster, than any manned system would be able to keep up with.

1.1 - pictured is a drone delivering blood plasma

Still, there are challenges associated with using an unmanned system in this capacity. In terms of security, it may be difficult if the drone becomes a target for someone trying to interrupt this process and use whatever "luggage" the drone has, for their own interests. I believe that so many organizations are innovating at such a rate, that the security aspect is not given any attention. This company mentioned that they will also be transporting pig organs to humans. I have not read into the science of doing a pig organ transplant into a human, but I do know that a lot of research has gone into using animal organs for humans. This drone and the medical person flying with it, may need to be highly skilled in knowing how to properly transplant an animal organ into a human, while tricking the human's immune system to not recognizing its coming from another species. While this capability could be a great asset, it is also a huge challenge for scientists and the MOTH.

One Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle company called, EHang, is testing out their new drones to deliver organs within the next 15 years. They are working with Lung Biotechnology, a public benefit corporation focused on the development and commercialization of innovative products to enhance organ transplantation. "The collaborators are calling this program the ManufacturedOrganTransportHelicopter(MOTH)system. With an order in hand for up to 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles..." (Roy, 2017). Some key takeaways from this unmanned system are that it is a sophisticated collaboration with foreseeable impacts on humanity and the society at large. One big takeaway is how such collaborations would infuse the field and practitioners? In my opinion, doctors can be anywhere in the world, and be able to call upon a drone that sends its organ donor much faster than any traditional manned system would take. At the push of a button or two, it can advance multi-tasking in a life saving event, using less brain power and manned operations. What I did find interesting about the MOTH system though, is that it is an autonomous drone that is human-sized. I am wondering if the reasons for this company making such a quadcopter, is for the transportation of medical personnel or patients in the future? See pic 1.2 below.

1.2 - MOTH drone

The company further states that each year 200,000 people in the United States die of endstage lung disease, many of which could have been saved had they been delivered a lung by a MOTH system. Other benefits that this unmanned system could provide, are in terms of saving millions of gallons of aviation transport gasoline annually. The MOTH system, much like all other drones, are operated by an all-electric system, traveling through the air at speeds up to 65 miles per hour. With it having a smartphone app, guided by a global positioning system, and automatically pre-programmed to land at a variety of destinations, it's perfectly suited for a variety of medical emergency transport.

-Robotic Realm


Roy, R (2017). The Future of Performance Improvement: Drones In The Emergency Medical Space. Retrieved from Hunt library. https://erau.instructure.com/courses/97830/discussion_topics/1531531?module_item_id=5428576