What the first matter you think of when you pick up the word “ drone pipe ? ” It might bekilling machine . Orreconnaissance quadcopters . Or maybe a beloved bee . But for a countless number of people in Africa , it could be a fly packmule with life - saving payload .
https://gizmodo.com/this-is-where-drone-operators-kill-people-by-remote-con-1501895208
On Monday , the organizers of theFlying Donkey Challengeannounced the first 33 fledgling in a series of events that will culminate in a radio-controlled aircraft race around Mount Kenya in 24 hours and a multi - million one dollar bill award for the succeeder . This specific grouping come from all over the world and will compete in a subchallenge from November 8 through the 16 in Kenya , though the last challenge will take place in 2020 . For now , each team has proposed a figure for a so - called “ flying donkey , ” an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of delivering and collecting consignment that weighs about 45 pound .
The overarching estimation , here , is obvious : Build a better cargo drone , get more shipment to more people in Africa . “ Commercial trailer engineering science has substantial potential here to help overcome the limitations of the continent ’s transportation infrastructure and deliver goods and services in remote realm — spurring new models for business and divine service delivery , ” Kamal Bhattacharya , Director of IBM Research , Africa , said in a imperativeness release .
https://gizmodo.com/some-good-things-drones-can-actually-do-1475717696
Think lessbeer speech droneand moremedicine delivery poke . solid food is an also option , of course of instruction , but the loading is pretty limited . You ’d belike need a small fleet to feed a village for any extended amount of time .
Africadoes certainly has an substructure trouble , a problem that ’s made defective by the fact that Africa ’s population is growing faster than the infrastructure needed to support it . This is only going to get worse in forthcoming years , which is precisely why the Flying Donkey Challenge was conceptualize . And , if it all pan out , the participants suffer to build some technology that could make life better for some masses in Africa . That ’s a grown “ if , ” though .
cynic will be immediate to point out how unbelievable it is for these kind of projects to come to fruition , however . Announcingsome ambitious undertaking involving a headline - friendly parole like “ drones”is one thing , but in reality orchestrating all of the move parts to make it a executable curriculum is another . Take Facebook ’s plan to allow wireless internet to isolated community of interests all over Africa , for example . Is it an great project that will conclude with yard of people in remote regions of Africa surf Facebook ? Or is it just a great marketing maneuver .
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-drones-are-truly-revolutionary-marketing-1474861589
The partners involved in the Flying Donkey Challenge including IMB , Africa as well as Swiss WorldCargo , the air lading partitioning of Swiss Airlines . The National Center of Competence in Research ( NCCR ) Robotics in Switzerland is also helping out . irrespective of purpose , it ’ll be interesting to see what kinds of innovations these guys help to enable , and it will be with child if , in ten age , these fell donkey are delivering food and medicine to people all over the continent . Again , that ’s a crowing “ if . ” [ Robohub ]
Image via Flying Donkey Challenge
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