The UPV will test drones with medical supplies in September

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Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) will test in September, in two pilot tests, the use of drones to transport medical supplies , in case there is a resurgence of the coronavirus. Israel Quintanilla , responsible for the project and president of the UPV drone commission, details that these are two pilot projects that "represent all the possibilities of logistical distribution in terms of medical supplies and biological samples in times of COVID-19 » . Thus, the tests will be carried out from a large logistics center to a hospital in Valencia and from the Gandia hospital to peripheral centers .

This initiative has been one of those selected by the Department of Innovation , as scientific-innovative solutions related to the fight against the virus and has received a budget of 88,000 euros, an amount that Quintanilla considers sufficient to carry out and validate the two pilot projects in the specific case of emergency situations due to COVID-19.

The president of the UPV drone commission highlights that the objective of the project is to establish test flights and operations so that, in the case of a supposed coronavirus outbreak , the transport of medical supplies, biological samples or other type of merchandise that is urgently required. "Two types of pilot tests will be carried out that contemplate the transportation logistics model in case of COVID-19 emergencies ," he points out.

Quintanilla (UPV): "The two pilot projects represent all the possibilities for Email Data logistical distribution of medical supplies in times of COVID-19"
In this way, they will choose a hospital in Valencia to carry out the transfer from the logistics center, located in Feria València; and they will use the Gandia hospital to transport the material to regional health centers or social-health residences. The UPV has already collaborated with the hospital in the capital of La Safor through the Fisabio program in the use of drones to transport laboratory material and biological samples in participation in a H2020 research project.



In this way, the tests would be extrapolated to the rest of the centers . Thus, he explains that in July and August they will establish the operating procedure , operational safety and the typology of drones and in September they plan to carry out the pilot tests, which they do not yet know how long they will last. Furthermore, he comments that drones can transport up to 12 kilos , although he specifies that it is the Department of Health that must decide the transportation needs.