Zortrax 3D Prints Lifeguard Drone to Save Castaways, Assisting AeroAtena in ‘Drones for Good’ Competition

Taken from 3DPrint.com

by Bridget Butler Millsaps

When one considers the fumbling and chaos that ensued as Amelia Earhart’s plane lost contact over the South Pacific, leaving the world to radio silence and heartbroken speculation, it’s interesting to ponder a modern-day scenario featuring 3D printed drones which would lessen one’s chances of dying as a castaway. If you live in a coastal location, you probably read the weekly headlines regarding mishaps at sea, as well as men gone overboard — with some outcomes better than others.

If we can track a missing smartphone to a location virtually anywhere, it would make sense that we might figure out how to find missing people more easily as they are separated from boats and planes, although the idea of being equipped with a GPS device is not something any of us want for ourselves as independent adults always hoping to avoid the Big Brother scenario.

The idea of drones that would be alerted to individuals who fell overboard or were stranded on an island or floating object, working in tandem with rescue teams, sounds like something quite worth looking into for the long run, as I am sure anyone who was sun blistered and stranded at sea for 97 days would agree to.

In a project regarding drones that are more of a friendly nature than the cold steel military variety,Zortrax has come onto the scene collaborating with Polish team AeroAtena and their Robolifeguard project, which served as a finalist in the ‘Drones for Good’ competition sponsored in the United Arab Emirates. The idea for those who entered the contest was to come up with more common, civilian uses for drones.