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Iranian Lab's Quadcopters To Rescue Swimmers
mpthompson writes "Via RoboticsTrends' newsletter, RTS Lab in Tehran is developing Pars, which is an aerial rescue robot quadcopter designed to save potential drowning victims. The ship-based quadcopter responds instantly when alerted to potential victims in the ocean, locating them with thermal imaging sensors, and dispensing life preservers directly over them. The current prototype carries one life preserver, but they are working on a new model to carry three life preserver rings. Future models may dispense up to 15 self-inflating rings. A launching platform for use on ships has been designed, but more intriguing is an idea for a remote stand-alone launching platform. It's good to see innovative robot tech coming from a country that is not normally well covered in Western media."
I expect that's the main thing taking into consideration the mountain stealth jet.
*DRONES No more /. before coffee :(
You're not wrong, but losing a $1,000 quadcopter, to me, is preferable to losing either the man in the water or sending out a manned helicopter. It will work better than sitting there going "I hope that guy doesn't drown."
http://www.robotee.com/index.php/aerial-rescue-robot-pars-31026/
Presumably this is in addition to, not a replacement for, other rescue technologies/methods currently in use. If this is a way of getting life preservers to victims at high speed ahead of the conventional lifeboat that is also on the way, that can only be a good thing. A full sized lifeboat can go at what, 25 knots (30 mph) maybe, and perhaps a quadcopter can go 50 mph, that might be the difference between someone being in the cold, rough water without safety equipment for 30 mins or 15 mins.
The quadcopter in TFA also has a heatcam, LED emergency beacons, and a voice recognition system to pick up on people shouting for help. All things that should make it easier for a lifeboat or rescue helicopter to directly pinpoint people in distress and get to them more quickly.
In addition to the other replies, presumably a major use case for this technology is stupid tourists, who rarely go swimming during major storms.
[FUCK BETA]
Just some facts.
Care to post your qualifications first?
The range of these battery powered drones with pay-load(1.5kg) would be around 8 minutes, regardless of battery size.
Where'd you get those numbers from?
Bigger battery = heavier = more power needed to move around and stay airborne
Bigger battery also = more power available, so...
4 minutes out @ 20mph (unlikely in real world conditions) is 1.3 miles or 2.1 km.
Who says these things only go at 20mph? And how is (as you appear to be implying) 2.1 km not far enough?! These things could easily save lives within a few hundred metres of shore or an off-shore installation like an oil rig. Oh, also, because I did some reading, I found out that they're designed to soft splash into water when they run out of juice to be recovered later, so you can double whatever number you've invented.
30 minutes to recharge (assuming the wireless charging works at top speed)
And also assuming a) that the charging is wireless and also b) that it does actually take 30 minutes to recharge. And this is hardly a problem at all unless people start drowning more than once every 30 minutes. And there's always the battery swap option.
And they will not work when winds are over 20 mph.
Who says?
Why must someone always dump on every prototype? Does it make them feel smart?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I work in the robotics industry and what really caught my eye was that this interesting work is coming out of Iran. Something I thought was pretty cool considering the negative press we get from our media about the country. Obviously, the Iranian government is very anti-American, but I would bet if I were to sit down with the folks at JST Labs working on this project I would find we share a lot of common interests in technology and such. It is from such common interests that broader cultural bridges can be built from.