Back in 2021, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden partnered with Everdrone to test drone delivery of defibrillators to real-world heart attacks victims. Now the company has announced a multipurpose drone to support first responders.
For the real-world tests funded by the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation and carried out in 2020 by Karolinska Institutet in partnership with SOS Alarm, Region Västra Götaland and Everdrone, defibrillators were dispatched by drone to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims at the same time as an ambulance.
Out of the 12 deployments during the pilot, only one failed to reach its destination, seven managed to get to site before the ground personnel – though the equipment wasn't used until the ambulances arrived – and the drones clocked a median distance of 3.1 km (2 miles).
The system subsequently proved its worth in late 2021 when a 71-year-old Trollhättan resident suffered a cardiac arrest while shoveling snow in his driveway. Luckily a doctor saw the emergency on his way to work and called it in. An Everdrone autonomous drone was launched carrying an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), and the doctor was able to save the man's life before an ambulance arrived.
Everdrone's First on Scene Solutions project with Region Västra Götaland is currently ongoing, and the company has recently expanded the service beyond Sweden in collaboration with Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex in the UK.
Now a multipurpose drone called the E2 is joining the fleet, which will be able to make "direct deliveries of anything from AEDs to EPI pens and anti-bleeding kits, or other vital medical equipment" to where they're needed.
The autonomous all-weather drone will be capable of deployment within 15 seconds from the alarm being raised. It has a cruising speed of 23 m/s and an operational range of 8 km (~5 miles). There's an "advanced camera system" onboard with RGB, infrared and 10x zoom for hi-res and IR live transmission to first responders.
Everdrone reports that its drone delivery service is "designed to operate in just about all areas in Europe, with a potential reach of more than 99% of all urban inhabitants in Europe." The Everdrone E2 system is expected to begin live operations from Q2 2024.
Source: Everdrone
