The use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), has been highly contentious over the last few years with concerns over safety, privacy and legality being raised repeatedly. However, there are many instances in which this relatively new and progressive technology has been used as a force for good. Here are some of the positive ways that drones are being used today.
Planting trees
Last month the Canadian startup Flash Forest committed to planting 40,000 trees in a month, and 1 billion trees by 2028. Beginning with a large area north of Toronto, that had previously been the victim of a wildfire, Flash Forest is using its tree-planting drone technology for reforestation.
In order to restore biodiversity and fight climate change, we need to be able to work quickly and efficiently, which is made possible with drone technology. In Flash Forest’s mission statement they explain that the drones can work at 10 times the speed of human labourers.
The drones have also changed the game when it comes to planting forests with the ability of the seed-firing drones to access thick mangrove forests and steep areas, as Angelique Ahlstrom, Co-Founder of Flash Forest, told Fast Company:
“It allows you to get into trickier areas that human planters can’t”.
Undoubtedly a huge step forward for environmentalists, Flash Forest describes the anticipated impact of drone technology in their mission statement:
“Living in the age of technology, we can effectively harness this to restore entire ecosystems, scaling the global quest for carbon neutrality. Flash Forest is here to tip the scales in the global ecological crisis.”
The startup launched in early 2019 and this is just the beginning of their journey in the fight against climate change. The current technology is groundbreaking but as it is developed it will become even more successful.
Delivering medical supplies
Drone technology could also be a game-changer when it comes to the delivery of medical supplies. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced in April that a trial to use drones for the delivery of medical supplies would be fast-tracked.
The drones are going through trials between Southampton and the Isle of Wight and aim to speed up the delivery of medical supplies to patients with cost-effective technology. Tom Cherrett, a professor at the University of Southampton, commented on the potential success of this trial:
“The concept of using drones to deliver medical supplies has been proven in countries such as Rwanda where they are helping to save lives by reaching isolated communities quickly and cheaply.
The research we are embarking on over the next four years will investigate how such unmanned systems could be used in shared airspace and integrated within existing logistics operations in the UK.”
Disaster response
UAVs are also proving to be a hugely beneficial form of technology when it comes to emergency response in a disaster. Drones are able to survey areas of natural disaster that are difficult to access. The innovations in infrared camera technology have allowed for search and rescue missions to function in areas with limited visibility or that are inaccessible.
Last month NASA announced a new project that will make use of drone technology to assist emergency responders during disasters such as wildfires, flooding and hurricanes. The project, named Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations, or STEReO, will use drones to speed up interventions and make them more targeted.
Featured Image: © Miguel Ángel Hernández
