Computer Science, Industrial Design, Physics, Writing and Communication, and hint of pizzaz: these are the academic forces behind the rescue drone, along with the collective desire to save lives.
We began as a team of six: two industrial designers, two physicists, a programmer, and a writer. Upon our first meeting out-of-class meeting in the art studio, we did brief introductions and began brainstorming. What could we do? We sketched, Googled, wrote ideas on colored post it notes. Our many ideas included:
- Lifeguard drone: that could locate rip currents, drop off life jackets, track victims until rescue, shark watch, etc.
- Search and rescue: drone that locate fires, give directions to rescuers, find lost children, drop off first aid kits, maintain radio communication, etc.
By the second class day, we added a seventh member to the rescue squad: Becky Rosen, a writer/communications expert. Sean Rhodes, one of our awesome industrial designers, presented our ideas during the second class meeting. After receiving feedback from our professors, we realized we must hone in on a specific problem that the use of a drone could solve, no matter how impossible it may seem.
We were back to square one—narrowing down an issue and creating a solution to solve it. This time we decided to extend our research beyond the United States. Our findings brought us to Africa, where we honed in on Zamfara, Nigeria where lead poisoning was a common killer. Our proposed solution was allowing doctors to use drones equipped with telemedicine that would be delivered with help of iPads with cellular data, proximity sensors, stepper motors, and more.
Before presenting our masterpiece, we began discussing our idea with Dr. Besi Brillian Muhonja, an Associate Professor of Africana Studies here at James Madison University (JMU). In a matter of ten minutes, she changed our perspective on our problem and proposed solution. What we failed to research were any cultural restrictions that could hinder our drone activity. Thus, we decided to facelift our project one more time.
Our final proposal is delivering telemedicine to clinics in Goma, a region in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in efforts to help alleviate malaria.
By Alexia Constanza