SPECIAL FEATURE
AUTHOR: PATRICK MEIR
Cargo drone deliveries
in the Amazon
Patrick Meir reports on why humanitarian delivery
drones could be the answer to logistics challenges.
atrick Meir reports on the current
P challenges facing Amazonian
communities when receiving aid
and why humanitarian delivery drones
could be the answer.
The Amazon rainforest is home to
thousands of local indigenous
communities spread across very remote
areas, but there are very few roads. Boats
on slow winding rivers offer the only
means of transportation for many isolated
communities. As a result, these sparse
populations rarely have reliable access
to essential medicines or public health
services. Local doctors report an average
of 45 snakebites a month in the
Contamana region alone, for example.
These bites are often life threatening,
and it can take hours to have anti-venom
medicines delivered by boat. WeRobotics
travelled to the Amazon rainforest to
learn more about these challenges and
to explore whether cargo drones could
realistically be used to overcome some
of these challenges.
When we reached the remote village of
Pampa Hermosa by riverboat from
Contamana, we learned from the local
doctor that he had treated a villager for
snakebite just the week before. As a result,
he only had one anti-venom vial left, so if
two other villagers were to be bitten by
snakes in coming days, he would either
have to send the second villager to
Contamana by boat or have more
anti-venom delivered to Pampa Hermosa.
It can take a canoe up to six hours to
complete this journey. Faster boats that
take up to four hours are available, but
they are notably pricier. Besides,
transporting a patient suffering from a
snakebite in the intense heat is hardly
desirable and could well worsen the
patient’s condition.
The better option is to phone Contamana
and have them send a resupply of
anti-venom medicines on the next public
boat to Pampa Hermosa. This is not an
ideal solution either, since four to six
hours is a long time to wait after a
life-threatening snakebite. The doctor
also noted that he does not have the
equipment necessary to test blood
samples in Pampa Hermosa. This means
that when he is unable to diagnose a
problem, he has to send the patient to
Contamana to be tested. Cargo drones
could thus play an important role in the
transportation of both anti-venom and
blood samples, as well as other medicines.
Our initial plan was to carry out a dozen
flights between Contamana and Pampa
Hermosa 40km away. The drone was to
carry anti-venom vials and blood samples,
during the day and at night. Alas, the plan
did not work; the $40,000 cargo drone
that had been brought in for the tests
could hardly fly without becoming
unstable and thus dangerous. After three
days of troubleshooting onsite, the
manufacturer called off the tests.
We quickly devised a backup plan using
a small fixed-wing mapping drone. We
would simply remove the drone’s camera
and place the anti-venom in its place.
The drone in question was an Event 38
E384 fixed-wing drone costing just under
$3,000. It is a small, simple and easy to use
drone that can be repaired locally. The
drone is hand-launched and programmed
to fly autonomously. From all the dents,
scratches and duct tape holding the drone
together, it was clear the model we had
with us was already well worn. In fact, our
Peruvian partners had actually named the
drone Frankie after Frankenstein’s
monster. There were no guarantees that
Frankie would be able to fly 40km with a
small medical payload.
A chilled anti-venom medicine bottle that
was put into a cold pack and placed into
the drone, which was then hand-launched
from Contamana’s football field.
Approximately 35 minutes later, the drone
appeared over the village of Pampa
Hermosa and was manually landed by a
member of Peru Flying Labs. The landing
on the local football field was smooth as
HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS
the drone slid gently across the grass.
Many villagers had come out to witness
the first ever cargo delivery flight in the
Amazon Rainforest. The drone’s battery
was at 40% when it landed in Pampa
Hermosa, which suggests that we could
have flown the drone across a distance
of up to 60km.
For the return flight, we flew blood
samples and the anti-venom back to
Contamana, at night. This time, the
drone would be programmed to land
automatically on the football field in
Contamana rather than manually landed.
A bike light was taped to the nose of the
drone. Alas, the drone overflew the
football field and landed in a nearby
coconut tree instead because the GPS
co-ordinates of the field were off.
However, the blood sample in the cold
pack was completely intact, and the
drone only required a very minor repair.
Because the E384 only weighs 2kg and the
propeller faces the back, there is virtually
no risk that it could harm anyone.
In February 2017, we returned to the
Amazon for additional flight tests. We
successfully flew a newer drone between
Contamana and the small town of
Tiruntan about 75km away, thus almost
doubling our previous range. The drone
carried 10 vials of saline solution to
simulate blood.
In May, we are heading back for more
flight tests, if we can secure the funding.
In the meantime, it is important to
emphasise that the question here is not
which drone is inherently better, but
rather which drone under which
circumstances can solve which problems
for which communities and partners and
under which budget constraints.
Patrick Meir
Executive Director and Co-Founder,
WeRobotics.
patrick@irevolutions.org
@PatrickMeier
www.ciltuk.org.uk 31
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