drones-blood

From the looks of things drones are going to have a major presence in our lives just a few years down the road whether we like it or not when the technological challenges are overcome and regulatory hurdles are cleared. Amazon is already calling for drone-only airspace while it tries its hand at delivering packages using drones. A Johns Hopkins doctor is conducting a new study to see if it would be feasible to have drones carry blood to emergencies.

The study is being led by Dr. Timothy Amukele with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in which samples of blood are being loaded on to drones and seeing how they perform while going about in the air.

Dr. Amukele explains that this experiment has been designed to find out if you put a blood sample on the drone does the sample reach its intended destination with its integrity intact or not.

That is crucial to this entire exercise because blood needs careful handling and would serve no purpose to emergency personnel if its integrity is compromised after a trip onboard a drone.

Amukele points out that if this turns out to be successful and can be done on a large scale, it would significantly improve access to blood in rural areas and in countries without proper road networks. It would certainly be faster than waiting for someone to go get the blood from the hospital particularly after traumatic accidents.

Initially the researchers were worried that the acceleration of drones and the possibility to crash is going to end up destroying blood cells but none of their samples have been damaged yet. The study is expected to continue for another two years before a conclusion is reached.

Filed in Medical. Read more about .

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