Cleveland Clinic hopes to deploy autonomous drones to deliver medicine by 2025
Cleveland Clinic hopes to fly high by 2025.
In two years, the health system aims to send autonomous drones soaring through the skies of Northeast Ohio to deliver certain medications directly to patients' homes, according to a news release.
If this comes to pass, the Cleveland Clinic would join the ranks of entities like the University of Akron and Amazon, which are also trying out drone or robotic delivery services.
Once launched, the program aims to service more than a dozen yet-to-be-determined Cleveland Clinic locations across Northeast Ohio. Deliveries could eventually include lab samples, prescription meals, medical and surgical supplies and hospital-at-home services that would be delivered via "automotive courier or ground delivery."
The Cleveland Clinic has numerous hospitals and outpatient locations across Northeast Ohio, including Akron General and Mercy Hospital in Canton.
“We are always looking for solutions that are cost effective, reliable and reduce the burden of getting medications to our patients,” Chief of Cleveland Clinic Operations Bill Peacock said in the release. “Not only are deliveries via drone more accurate and efficient, the technology we are utilizing is environmentally friendly. The drones are small, electric and use very little energy for deliveries.”
Working with Zipline
To make this a reality, the Cleveland Clinic will work with Zipline, a drone company, that can deliver to dense urban areas and can complete a 10-mile delivery in about 10 minutes, according to the hospital.
Docks and loading portals will be added at Cleveland Clinic facilities across the region. Once a prescription is ready, a clinic technician will load the drone.
Next, the autonomous drone will take off, flying as close as 300 feet to a patient's home before deploying another autonomous droid on a tether line to deliver the package.
Once completed, the little droid will return to the drone before it flies back to its home portal.
“Zipline has been focused on improving access to health care for eight years. We’re thrilled to soon bring fast, sustainable and convenient delivery to Cleveland Clinic patients,” CEO and co-founder of Zipline Keller Rinaudo Cliffton said in the news release.
Cleveland Clinic hopes to work with local governments to get this program off the ground and to start installing docks and loading ports, according to the release.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Clinic hopes to use drones to deliver medicine by 2025
