Sunday, January 26, 2014

"Swarms of drones could be the next frontier in emergency response" By McKay Fugate


          Robots that can buzz, whir, and clamber into some of the most dangerous crime scenes and disaster zones are coming to the aid of police officers and other first responders who put themselves in harm’s way.
“Just knowing what’s going on inside a house that we would go into cold — [we could] potentially save officers’ lives and victims’ lives,” Phil Mancini, a detective on the Roseville police desk, told NBC News. Mancini has been advising a group at Carnegie Mellon University that is building a swarm of cheap, small flying helicopters that could come to the aid of officers across the country who find themselves facing off against suspects they can’t always see. Law enforcement officers on the ground had help from bomb squad robots, that helped push aside the furniture the suspect had piled up as a barricade. But two detectives believe that a bit of unmanned aerial backup would have made a big difference. 
          This was really interesting to read about. So many industries are moving towards drone technologies, and it only seams logical that emergency response would be next. I do think that humans are still a big part of emergency response, but like the article says, they are only looking to use the drones to collect information in order to better protect their personnel. This article is targeted towards anyone who might need to call on an emergency response unit, and while it seems strange to think that a drone might be the first to respond, it is comforting to know that the people who put themselves in harms way for us are better protected.


http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/swarms-drones-could-be-next-frontier-emergency-response-2D11988741



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