Skip to main content

Development: Swords to ploughshares – is the world ready for humanitarian robots?

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are well-known for their controversial use in modern warfare, but in recent years similar technology has been employed by humanitarian operations to assist in disaster situations.

A crash-landed UN MONUSCO drone in the DRC. Image Source 
The concept of re-purposing military-born technology for peaceful, civilian tasks has existed for thousands of years. In the ancient analogy, the ploughshare represents a productive tool that benefits humanity while the sword, although superficially similar, has a quite contrary purpose.

Drone use in the humanitarian sector has been growing rapidly. In disaster situations, drones are used to assess damage to structures, find survivors in remote or dangerous locations, transport medical equipment and rapidly map disaster zones.

humanitarian-drones
Image source
Figure4. Drone over a disaster area.  
Drone creating GIS data in an earthquake zone. Source
Notable examples of future applications include the Ambulance Drone which can deliver a defibrillator in less than a minute. Time saving potential for these tasks is enormous- a significant gain in time critical emergency situations. Groups such as the FSD have compiled a detailed report into the roles that can currently be carried out by drones in humanitarian work – a list that is sure to expand in future.
Image result for ambulance drone
The Ambulance Drone created at TU Delft
Image result for drone crash UN congo
Aftermath of a MONUSCO drone crash in DRC. Image Source
But as with many things in the humanitarian sphere, all is not so simple and UAV use in this context has received criticism. In 2014, the UN’s MONUSCO program in the DRC abandoned a crash-landed drone for months causing confusion and distress to those it was meant to be safeguarding. A similar UN drone crash-landing resulted in one death and two civilians injured in 2006. A perception that drones are linked to war will be difficult to shift particularly when there are questions around neutrality. Issues of privacy will also be a huge challenge to regulate as more actors employ drones in disaster zones.

There can be huge benefits to using drones in disaster relief situations and even in development scenarios, but their use must be carefully balanced with community engagement to ensure the “human” element remains in “humanitarian” work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sport: The kit you actually need for an ironman distance triathlon

I recently completed the Outlaw - an Ironman distance triathlon in the UK, and thought it would be worth listing all the kit I used for the day, what I found worthwhile and what I think is unnecessary for a first timer. This is by no means a definitive guide, and you could certainly complete the race with less than I used. For anyone who's even dabbled in triathlon, this won't be news: there is a lot of equipment involved in the sport. As the distances get longer, it becomes even more pronounced and the pressure to just buy stuff increases massively. It's really easy to waste hours pouring over reviews, reading magazines, browsing sport shops and being sucked in to buying all sorts of paraphernalia, partly out of fear that you're never going to make it. But... I don't believe that you need the latest, brand new gear to take on this epic challenge. Getting things from ebay, borrowing from friends and otherwise getting creative will certainly pay off. (I used the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Theatre: Grounded | the junction, Cambridge

An AC/DC riff jangles through my head as I leave the Cambridge junction following the penultimate performance of an 18 month UK tour of Grounded. It is an hour long journey in the hands of a reluctant UAV pilot from the US Air Force which leaves us with more than a few questions about the reality of modern warfare. Director Christopher Haydon brings us up close to The Pilot, played by Lucy Ellison, as she comes to terms with being a member of the "chair-force" - a phrase she repeats with plenty of sarcasm and distaste. As a fully-fledged female Top Gun, our hero is full of all the bravado you'd expect from a highly trained military asset. She regales us with stories of her time out in the wide open "blue" (sky) as a fighter pilot, clearly smart and skilled and without an ounce of humility. Following a break from the war, she finds herself pregnant and somewhat excited about the prospect despite the risk of having to let go of her plane and "the blu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sport: Normal Guy Completes the Outlaw Triathlon - what did I learn?

A few days ago, at approximately half past five in the afternoon, I reached the finish line of the Outlaw Triathlon at the national watersports centre, Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham. For the uninitiated, this is a triathlon (swim, bike, run) consisting of a loop around the rowing lake (3.8km), a ride (180km) around Nottinghamshire's rolling green countryside and a marathon (42.2km) alongside the river Trent. Participants get given 17 hours to complete the race, but the winning man finished in under 9 hours and winning woman in under 10. I made it round in 11 hours 31 minutes, much to my own astonishment. I had been aiming to finish in twelve hours, but was honestly basing this on a small number of frankly optimistic assumptions. My wonderful, astonishingly determined wife, Fiona, who has only been swimming crawl since March, (and only found out her bike has more than ten gears eighteen months ago) made it round in under 14 hours. Over the past few years I've be...
Post a Comment
Read more