UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology is progressively developing in our world today yet it has largely been untapped in the aspect of bringing aid. It has enormous potential to be effectively used in large scale disaster situations.
The First Response Emergency Drone (F.R.E.D) is a high level concept for a humanitarian effort to bring food, water and supplies to people affected by earthquakes and other natural disasters. When earthquakes hit, roads are destroyed which makes bringing relief quickly and effectively to victims nearly impossible. If we look at the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there were many reports of relief supplies from other countries getting stuck at Port Au Prince because there was no way to distribute the supplies via land.
After an earthquake or natural disaster hits, the idea is for a predetermined committee or team (under UNICEF or another humanitarian organization) to meet. This team’s job is to analyze the damage via GPS systems and map out the hardest hit area as soon as possible. They use a ranking system to order which areas will get supplies first. While this is happening, another large scale team is charged with setting up a drone headquarter as close to the disaster as possible so they can send out drones with pallets of supplies.
F.R.E.D. is a UAV that has the ability to carry large pallets of supplies. It is equipped with GPS, lights, speakers and a camera. Rounded forms were used to give the drone a friendly/ non-intimidating appearance. These drones move in large, coordinated groups of up to 50-100 and quickly bring supplies to the areas mapped out by the damage assessment team. The idea is for these masses of drones to move ceaselessly within the first week to deliver supplies to those who can’t be reached on land.
The drones were designed to be large so that they could carry heavy loads. After a group of drones deliver their packages, the hope is that the community that receives the supplies will have enough to survive until more help arrives.