For the first time ever, the FAA has approved the routine commercial use of drones to carry a product.
The WakeMed program will start by flying patients’ medical samples one-third of a mile (.5 kilometer) from a medical park to the main hospital building for lab testing at least six times a day five days a week, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in an interview. Vials of blood or other specimens will be loaded into a secure box and carried to a drone launching pad, where they will be fastened to the aircraft and flown to another building. He said the flights will technically be within sight of operators on either end of the route, and they are authorized to fly above people.
Samples are typically driven on the ground and the goal of this project is to cut down how long it typically takes to transport time-sensitive samples to their destination for testing.
the North Carolina program could expand to flying miles-long routes between Raleigh-area WakeMed buildings in the coming months, Raptopoulos said. He also said medical specimen flights could start at one or two more hospitals in other cities later in 2019.
Other approvals by the FAA have been for limited tests and demos.
North Carolina is one of nine sites participating in the FAA’s pilot program to accelerate integrating drones for new uses ranging from utility inspections to insurance claims. The test sites get leeway trying new innovations while working closely with the federal officials in charge of regulating the drones.
Can we get a black-helicopter drone that doesn't make any noise?
Related Stories
FAA threatens $25,000 fine for weaponizing drones
It's perfectly natural for a red-blooded American to, once they have procured their first real drone, experiment with attaching a flame thrower to it. But it turns out that this harmless hobby is frowned upon by the biggest buzzkills in the world... the feds.
Yes, the FAA has gone and published a notice that drones and weapons are "A Dangerous Mix." Well, that's arguable. But they're the authority here, so we have to hear them out.
"Perhaps you've seen online photos and videos of drones with attached guns, bombs, fireworks, flamethrowers, and other dangerous items. Do not consider attaching any items such as these to a drone because operating a drone with such an item may result in significant harm to a person and to your bank account."
Also at The Verge and PetaPixel.
Previously: Department of Homeland Security Terror Bulletin Warns of "Weaponized Drones"
Related: FAA Restricts Drone Operations Over 10 U.S. Landmarks
FAA Approves Blood Toting Drones at North Carolina Hospital
Commercial Drones Are Way More Popular Than the FAA Expected
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Warns Against Using Chinese Drones
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:50AM (6 children)
Drones in this case are just an expensive and noisy gimmick. They're not talking about rural Australia or rural Africa. However, there's close to zero chance that they'll grow up and install a pneumatic post system like hospitals used to have. So the neighborhood is going to be stuck with these buzzing annoyances disturbing the peace at all hours and, occasionally, falling out of the sky on their own.
I'm not favorably impressed by that, though it looks like the board and owners may be. Apparently they plan to expand the program to cover many more buildings. That's a problem but not the biggest one. The big deal here is that FAA approval for this will allow it in many other hazardous and foolish scenarios governed by people with more dollars than sense.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:32AM (3 children)
It it not impossible to find solutions for the buzzing.
E.g. [newscientist.com] [note the date: 2015]
So, yes, having almost quiet black-helicopter drones is possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Wednesday March 27 2019, @07:57AM (2 children)
Yes, but 30m is already more or less out of shotgun range...
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:23AM
I'm at lost with this one.
Since they can be silent at 30m, do you suggest that the peace disturbance will be caused by shotguns shots and, occasionally, some "falling out of the sky on their own" because they fly out of shotgun range anyway (so they either must fall on their own or don't fall at all)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Thursday March 28 2019, @01:49AM
Pretty close for skeet/birdshot. Of course you can extend that significantly with larger (better carrying) shot sizes, longer barrels, and 3.5" magnum shells
https://www.blog.thegunsandgearstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Game-Use.jpg [thegunsandgearstore.com]
Think how much do you have to hate yourself to shoot 10ga 3.5" Magnum loaded with 000?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:37PM
I think that there is another application for Drones. In addition to buzzing, annoying and disturbing the peace, which could still be part of their intended mission.
Drones could swoop down out of the sky and collect blood samples from unsuspecting pedestrians. Then fly those samples to the blood collecting mother ship.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Thursday March 28 2019, @01:37PM
A pneumatic system would probably be cheaper and easier for this test installation, as it sounds like they're practically flying the thing next door. But if it was expected to be viable by itself, it wouldn't be a test installation, it would just be an installation. Running pneumatic tubes across several miles as they plan to do with these drones in the future would be quite a bit more difficult (particularly if they don't own the property in between), and also a lot less flexible should they need to add or relocate facilities in the future.
As for the noise and falling drones concerns...that's up to the FAA to regulate. But given that these are being used to carry medical tests, I imagine one of the primary concerns would actually be the test samples getting into someone else's hands. Violating patient privacy is a pretty serious offense -- my company once faced millions of dollars *per day* in fines just because our developers (who do get annual HIPAA training and such) could view PHI in our production database, so if that kind of data gets into the hands of non-employees then the medical center is likely going to be facing a massive shitstorm. Even if they don't care about the drone falling on someone's head, they probably know better than to let the test samples drop, so those drones ought to be pretty robust. Also the possibility of falling vials of potentially infected blood...so many potential lawsuits here they'd better be damn careful. But that would be why they're testing it by flying the things next door for now...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:17AM (2 children)
Oh boy I can't wait for people to point out that these could fall out the sky while ignoring the car crashes which currently occur.
Maybe they'll even complain about the noise while the ambient roar of cars goes ignored.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Wednesday March 27 2019, @07:34AM (1 child)
... the car crashes which currently occur.
That assertion is an example of fallacy of relative privation [wikipedia.org], a subset of red-herring or distraction fallacies.
Yes, traffic noise from badly designed tires is also a problem but it is too late to nip that one in the bud. Same for the rridiculously large number of traffic deaths annually [streetsblog.org], and not even counting injuries. The motor vehicle industry is pervasive in mind share and backed within government by enormous lobbying. Drones are still minor and have not yet gained approval. So at least for now it is feasible to address the problem of drones. If we wait, it won't be.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:10AM
The alternative to drones is cars/bikes, the safety of cars/bikes is relevant.
A better option than accepting car noise as you want is to push for noise limits to be part of the regulations governing drones.
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:45AM (2 children)
They said he could turn a wedding into a funeral with his Drones. And they gave him a Nobel Peace Prize, can you believe it?
I'm the first guy to say, just a minute, what if we used our Drones to save lives? Instead of kill, kill, killing. We call it, Droning for Peace. And if the Nobel Prizes are fair I'll be getting one for approving the beautiful Blood Drones. To go with the prizes for bringing Peace to Israel, to Korea, to Venezuela & Middle East. Need a bigger mantelpiece!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:38AM
Meh, whatevs. Better then droning for piss I s'ppose.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:33PM
Dear Mr. President,
Your Peace Drones should use a telescoping camera lens.
I saw a cell phone camera with a telescoping lens. The best lens. I promise. The telescoping lens pops out a tiny bit. Like the president's tiny misshapen mushroom.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:55PM (1 child)
They need to upgrade the blood-carrying drones with tools to extract it on the fly for maximum efficiency ;)
The Attack of the Vampire Drone Swarm
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Thursday March 28 2019, @01:52AM
Reminiscent of the original submission department
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды