Transporting blood samples

September 15, 2008

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Technology developed for war has been turned to the saving of lives. Engineers have converted uncrewed military aircraft into robotic carrier pigeons that could ferry medical samples from remote regions to labs for testing.

The UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles) are designed to be launched from clinics and pilot themselves along a pre-programmed route to the nearest lab, using GPS and microelectronic gyroscopes to guide them.

The team are waiting for authorisation from the South African Civil Aviation Authority to begin trials transporting samples from a real clinic.

Read the full story on New Scientist.