Trust Automation Contributes to the Development of Life Saving Drones Delivering Vital Medical Supplies to Rwanda
Trust Automation, Inc., known for standard and custom high efficiency motors and controls as well as support system solutions, today announced that it has designed and manufactured a custom system that contributes to the successful flights of drones that deliver lifesaving medical supplies to people who live in isolated territories of Rwanda. The drones have been developed by Zipline an autonomous robotics company based in San Francisco.
In Rwanda, medical supplies such as blood transfusions, antibiotics, vaccines, or antivenoms that are needed by patients in difficult to access areas take hours to deliver and sometimes can’t be delivered at all resulting in a significant amount of lost lives.
The founders of Zipline, are responding to this dire humanitarian need by developing a small launching hub and a fleet of 15 autonomous drones. With their pioneering aerospace solution; medical personnel can send Zipline a text message and a drone will respond with an airdrop containing the critical supplies within 30 minutes. The drone will send a message to the health center when it is two minutes away and the package, equipped with a parachute, will carefully float to the ground without the drone landing. The aircraft then returns to the launch site.
Trust Automation, known for inventing systems to meet complex challenges contributed to the Zipline system by collaborating with the team of engineers at Zipline with our motor control and system expertise.
“With the success of this project in Rwanda, we are looking forward to the many future possibilities this technology will offer,” said Ty Safreno, CEO and CTO for Trust Automation. “People in more countries can be saved, quality of life can be improved, and economic development opportunities can be supported with the expansion of this unique drone system providing access of materials to otherwise isolated areas.”
The Zipline drones will use GPS receivers to navigate and communicate via the Rwandan cellular network. They will be able to fly in inclement weather and winds up to 30 miles per hour. They are the most agile airborne alternative to automate supply chains.
