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Nobody said that the development of technology should rely on stunning innovations only. The mankind has evolved since the first forms of life and it still does. But a revolutionary discovery is that which allows old devices – designed years and years ago for other purposes – to be brought up to date according to world’s present necessities.

A relevant example to the matter of debate is an uncrewed military aircraft developed for war as spy planes converted into robotic carrier pigeons by the engineers at the South African National Health Laboratory Service. The device is aimed at carrying medical samples from remote areas to labs for testing or delivering emergency medicines and antidotes to those same locations. “The implications of these delays are huge for the individual and for the community. The patient is waiting for treatment, and in the meantime they could be passing on a very contagious disease”, said the project leader, Barry Mendelow. Therefore, the courier pigeons are meant to help solve the problem of long delays in diagnosing and treating diseases.

Clinics from African villages are practically unreachable due to the unpaved roads that become even more difficult to cross in bad weather. It’s impossible for couriers, taxis or ambulances to get to their destinations in time. Inspired by carrier pigeons, the UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles) are created to be launched from clinics and pilot themselves along a pre-programmed route to the nearest lab, using GPS and microelectric gyroscopes to guide them. They drop their cargo at a predetermined spot, or on directions from the ground, and return along their flight path. These robot planes can land either automatically, either under remote control by staff.

There were two different UAVs tested by the Mendelow’s team during the pilot project and they both were a remarkable success, as the “pigeons” were able to launch, fly and drop dummy samples in wind speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour. An advantage of the planes is the fact that they are small and they present no danger for the people on landing or takeoff. Developed in co-operation with the military firm Denel Dynamics, the pigeons can carry a 500-gram payload, enough to carry many blood or sputum samples, or two units of blood for transfusion. The samples are sterilized, so there is no risk of live bacteria or viruses escaping in the event of a crash landing.

As far as lab results are concerned, they are already sent to those remote clinics with unreliable wired telephone connections by cellphone text message. Therefore, patients should get their results within a day of providing a sample.

“It’s a very exciting idea”, said Ruth McNerney of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, one of the researchers who study the tuberculosis phenomenon in Africa. Her only concern is that “we need to know if it’s reliable enough from a technological point of view, but we will only find out by trying”.

There’s only one thing missing so far: an authorization from the South African Civil Aviation Authority which will be the starting point for trials transporting samples from a real clinic.

This is one pigeon mankind shouldn’t stop!

(Source Gizmodo)