Rescue

Hazardous places such as burning buildings can be dangerous to explore, which is why scientists are increasingly looking at using swarms of tiny drones to do the job. A bioinspired navigation system could help make such life-saving swarms a reality.

Among the proposed uses for drones, one of the most compelling is the search for survivors at disaster sites. That process could soon be more efficient, thanks to a system that allows drone cameras to differentiate between living and dead bodies.

The Hero rescue beacon is about the size of a pepper grinder, and it costs nothing to use.

Time is critical when rescuers are alerted to a swimmer in trouble, a surfer who's taken a dive or a yacht guest who has fallen overboard. The Dolphin 1 is a motorized, remote-controlled lifebuoy that is thrown in the water and then propels itself out to the person in distress.​

We've seen autonomous aircraft doing everything from spraying crops to surveying wildlife, and now the Swiss air rescue organization Rega has announced a drone that's capable of searching for and finding missing people all on its own.

Over at the São Paulo Motor Show, Nissan is showing how the Frontier can prove a potent force in search-and-rescue. The Frontier Sentinel concept has a raft of upgraded capabilities and components, including a drone-launching platform, portable power station and gear organization.

Researchers from MIT and NASA's Langley Research Center have been modifying quadrotor drones to allow a fleet to work together to zip through the trees of a thick forest without the need for GPS navigation, talking to each other wirelessly as they fly.

​This Wednesday, a group of seven swimmers located about 70 m (230 ft) from the beach at Spain's port of Sagunto found themselves caught in an undertow. After they signalled one of the lifeguards, an onsite Auxdron Lifeguard Drone was flown out to perform a rescue.

DARPA’s Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) program has successfully wound up its Phase 2 flight tests, putting its drones and algorithms to the test in three primary scenarios – all without human assistance or control.

​We've already seen robots that are made to help put out fires, but SmokeBot is a little different. Designed by a consortium led by Sweden's Örebro University, it's intended to perform reconnaissance missions in low-visibility smoke-filled buildings, creating maps that firefighters can follow.

​It's not just domestic plastic waste that's threatening marine life across the globe, discarded fishing gear and marine debris can be just as deadly. DJI has joined forces with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oceans Unmanned to explore safer whale rescue – using drones.​

​Three years ago we heard about the SkySaver, a rescue backpack that lets you descend from a burning high-rise via an integrated reel of steel cable. Well, now it's in for some competition from the SkySpider, which offers at least one unique feature.