Project Ryptide Drone Flies Life-Rings To Distressed Swimmers

Zothecula writes The speed that drones can be deployed makes them ideal for delivering items when time is of the essence. The Ambulance Drone and Defikopter, for example, are used for transporting defibrillators to those in need. Now, Project Ryptide plans to use drones to deliver life-rings to swimmers in distress. From the article: "The project, which is at pre-production prototype stage, was conceived by Bill Piedra, a part-time teacher at the King Low Heywood Thomas (KLHT) school in Stamford, Connecticut. Piedra began working on the design in January 2014 and then began developing it further with students at KLHT in September 2014. 'Ryptide was designed so that anyone can be a lifeguard,' Piedra tells Gizmag. 'We had the casual user in mind when we designed the basic model; someone that might take their drone to the beach, boating, a lake, or even ice skating. It could be useful in the case of someone falling through the ice while skating, for example.'"

Comments

Yeah sounds useful..

[fisted]

It could be useful in the case of someone falling through the ice while skating

..but not in this scenario.

Ring itself should be a drone..

[RealGene]

The ring is a large but lightweight foam torus. Why not just embed the rotors directly, and fly the ring itself out to the swimmer?

Re:Ring itself should be a drone..

[Firethorn]

Misses the victim: with your idea, they're screwed. With a reusable drone, it comes back for another ring.
Hits them with the drone: They're light-weight enough that it shouldn't happen, plus the control software for a NON-LANDING drone shouldn't let it hit the sea.
Crashes due to payload: This is why you use an inflatable device as opposed to a foam ring. Such a device can be tiny. A relative heavyweight device can be only 1.5 pounds. I'm sure it can be made lighter for a device that's not intended to be worn all day in the off chance you'll end up in the water.
Another beachgoer's drone: First, you'd have this problem anyways. Second, if used for lifesaving the drone going out should have priority. Third, the lifeguard should be the one with the drone.

Inflatables: The chance of failure is really miniscule, and you gain the benefits of a smaller size and less air resistance(probably more important).

An example of where tech does not improve life.

[MouseTheLuckyDog]

The image of three buxom ( female ) lifeguards running on the beach in skintight swimsuits with their assets bouncing up and down is so much more appealing then a minature helicopter flying over the beach.

Re:Drones for avalanche rescues?

[MouseTheLuckyDog]

An IR camera spotting a warm object in the snow?

Re:This fad not done yet?

[Applehu Akbar]

Now it happens that drones are ideal for general carpet bombing...