First-ever drone-delivery of kidney yields promising results

Drone delivery may have tons of practical use cases but it is yet to be adopted for commercially. However, that does not stop people from experimenting with drone delivery. In the latest, researchers tested drone delivery of human kidney to see if the method is viable for the time-sensitive task.

The researchers at the University of Maryland conducted an experiment of flying the kidney around Baltimore in a refrigerated box attached to a DJI M600 drone. The organ was made to travel 14 separate missions of various distances and profiles with the longest being three miles with a top speed of about 67.6 km/h, TechCrunch reported.

Biopsies of the kidney were conducted before and after the flights and it was found that no damage had been done to the organ despite the wind chill and heat from the motors, or maneuvers of the drone.

Although this method of delivering organs immensely cuts down on the time taken to transport from one area to the other, it is yet to get the green flag from the authorities, once approved, theoretically, drones can be used for transporting liver, blood, other tissues, even medical supplies.