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Kelvin Barnsdale: Drones could become first responders in a natural disaster

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Fri, 10 Feb 2017, 9:00AM
Search and rescue drones could become first responders in the event of a natural disaster (Getty Images)

Kelvin Barnsdale: Drones could become first responders in a natural disaster

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Fri, 10 Feb 2017, 9:00AM

Search and rescue drones could become first responders in the event of a natural disaster.

Canterbury University and Yokohama National University are working on developing technologies to detect people under rubble with drones.

Senior Research Engineer Kelvin Barnsdale told Mike Hosking the technology will allow drones to hone in on mobile devices such as phones.

But he said they're also developing new intelligence and sensory technologies for the flying rescuers to navigate through beams and fallen debris.

The drones may even be able to tell the emergency status of a person buried in rubble thanks to phones and fitbits.

"These devices talk to each other through radio connections and we're hoping to be able to pick up those signals from underneath the rubble, and detect not only the person being there but the biometric condition," he said.

LISTEN ABOVE AS KELVIN BARNSDALE SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

 

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