Servo - December 2016

same distance below the left nipple.

Press them down to make sure they are stuck to the patient’s skin and stand back.“ As the AED is analyzing the patient’s condition, you hear a faint whine. You then hear the person tell you to depress the flashing red button, which you do. The AED begins to deliver a series of shocks to the patient and he reacts with a movement of the chest, but not quite as severe as you’ve seen in movies. You then see that there are no more whines as the AED is no longer charging and the patient’s eyes flutter and open.

“What happened?” he asks. “A flying robot came down from Heaven and brought you back to life,” you tell him. “Yeah, sure,” your friend says. About that time, you hear a helicopter landing in a clearing 100 meters off to the south. The voice from the drone tells you, “A rescue team is coming through the woods to where you are, sir. You did a good job with your

Could this Drone be in Our Future?

As there are so many categories of robots, I am concentrating mostly on medical and assistive types, and also delivery robot drones, but what a neat glimpse into the future. Too bad it couldn’t happen today. Except that, if researchers at the Delft University of Technology (also known as TU Delft in Delft, Netherlands) have their way, it could soon be a reality. I took some information from articles about the drone developed by the university and developed the above scenario, tossing in a few of my own ideas of the possibilities.

Trials have already been completed as the scene in Figure 3

attests to. A graduate student at the university has developed what is called an ‘ambulance drone.’ It can be delivered much more quickly to the scene of a sudden cardiac arrest than delivered by a fire department’s rescue ambulance or similar vehicle.

This is especially the case when emergencies happen in a more rural or wooded area such as in my scenario here.

At the Delft University’s site, they state: “For the Ambulance Drone, a new type of airframe was developed that is a compact flying toolbox containing essential supplies for advanced life support.” The simulation shown in Figure 3 depicts the Ambulance Drone in use in an emergency situation. Portability and fold-ability as shown in Figure 4 allow the drone to be used anywhere, including indoors.

The first prototype focuses on the delivery of an AED. In the European Union, around 800,000 people per year suffer from a cardiac arrest — an upsetting number considering that only 8% survive this incident. The main reason for this high number of casualties is the relatively slow response time of emergency services ( 10 minutes). Brain death and permanent death start to occur in just four to six minutes (refer to Figure 2).

Delft University also states: “With the Ambulance Drone, we want to dramatically increase this survival rate. The incorporation of a two-way video supported communication channel in the drone between 112 operators and the first responders will improve first care. Successful AED usage by lay-persons is currently at 20%.

With personalized instructions and communication on the Ambulance Drone, this can be increased to 90%. In short, the Ambulance Drone helps to save lives by extending existing emergency infrastructure with a network of fast and compact UAVs capable of bringing emergency supplies and establishing communication, anywhere.” I’m going to add some thoughts later in this article about coupling another technology to the Ambulance Drone concept.

Delft University has the Right Idea

The previously described scenario has a vivid meaning for me, and possibly for some readers as well. When I was just 14, I got a call that my dad had experienced a heart attack and I was to bring him his heart medicine. Rapidly riding my bicycle to the site where he was already on the ground, I pushed my way through the crowd and attempted to place a nitroglycerine tablet under his tongue. It was to no avail as he died in my arms.

I was finally gently pulled away from him by a caring bystander who saw me desperately trying to revive him with the old style ‘artificial respiration’ that I learned as a Boy Scout.

He was only one block from our Post comments on this article at www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/article/ December2016_ThenandNow_Robots-of-Future. Advances in robots and robotics over the years.