Edible drones filled with food, water or medicine could soon become indispensable in humanitarian emergencies by delivering live-saving supplies to remote areas hit by natural disasters or conflict, their designers said on Monday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With 50 kg (110 lb) of food stocked inside its compartments, each drone costing 150 pounds ($187) would be able to deliver enough supplies to feed up to 50 people per day, they said.<\/p>\n
The frame of the prototype version of the drone – called Pouncer – is made of wood but the designers are planning to use edible materials in the next version.<\/p>\n
\u201cFood can be component to build things,\u201d Nigel Gifford, an ex-army catering officer and founder of UK-based Windhorse Aerospace, the company behind the design, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fly (the drone) and then eat it,\u201d he said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n
With up to 40 km (25 miles) reach, the drone can be launched from an aircraft or catapulted from the ground with an accuracy of about 7 metres (23 ft), giving it an advantage over air drops – often used as a last resort in emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn combat zones like we have in Aleppo or Mosul nothing will work except what we have,\u201d Gifford said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith parachuted air drops the problem is you can\u2019t guarantee where the loads will land.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Aleppo we could have put aid straight into some of the streets and we could have done that out of the sight of ISIS (Islamic State).\u201d<\/p>\n
Parts of the 3 metre (10 ft) by 1.5 metre (5 ft) drone, designed by the team behind Facebook\u2019s solar-powered internet drone Aquila, can be used as fuel or shelter.<\/p>\n
The Windhorse team includes Bruce Dickinson, entrepreneur and lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden and a former Airbus executive, Andrew Morgan.<\/p>\n
Gifford said several humanitarian agencies, including medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and the World Health Organization, have already expressed their interest in using the drone.<\/p>\n
In December Windhorse presented the Pouncer to Britain\u2019s aid minister Priti Patel, hoping to attract help with financing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re waiting to hear back from them,\u201d Gifford said.<\/p>\n
He said the Pouncer would undergo initial testing in May and should be ready to be deployed on its first mission by the end of the year. ($1 = 0.8020 pounds)\u2014Thomson Reuters Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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