Deficopter
A deficopter is the prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle ("drone") which, partially or fully automatically, controlled by GPS, can transport a mobile automated external defibrillator (AED) to a location and drop it off there or parachute it. It was presented in 2013 by the Bielefeld drone manufacturer Height-Tech , the defibrillator could be supplied by the Swiss manufacturer Schiller . According to the developers, “legal hurdles” and technical problems will soon be resolved so that the system will be operational around 2018.
In the case of ventricular fibrillation , the probability of success decreases by approx. 10% with each untreated minute. Public AEDs are not yet available nationwide, or their location is not known to everyone. The average arrival time of the emergency services is several minutes. The use of deficopters is intended to minimize the time until the defibrillator is used.
The system would be activated by a mobile app , whereupon the deficopter should fly fully automatically to the transmitted coordinates and land there, or drop the AED by parachute. According to the manufacturer, the Defikopter should be able to operate at up to 70 km / h in a radius of 10 km in almost all weather conditions. The development was initiated by the non-profit organization Definetz eV
A comparable device was presented by the TU Delft at the end of October 2014 . However, it does not fly automatically, but is controlled via a webcam and also establishes voice contact with the helpers on site. According to the developer, the Defikopter should be able to travel up to 100 km / h and reach any point in an area of 12 km² within a minute. For better portability, attention was paid to a low weight and the rotor arms are foldable.
Sources and individual references
- ↑ H. Gontek: Defikopter, take over! Haller Kreisblatt, August 25, 2013
- ↑ Defibrillator drone is supposed to rescue a heart attack. www.welt.de August 26, 2013, accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Defikopter project at TU Delft , accessed on 23 December 2014
Web links
- Defikopter: Drones can save lives. At definetz.de, accessed September 2, 2013
- Video report at wa.de, accessed September 2, 2013