Drone and autonomous delivery not just for consumers’ mailboxes: Dronedek set to help hospitals, too
Hospitals across the world send out millions of blood and human tissue samples every day, and that process can be time-consuming. It’s not uncommon for samples to be lost, and the constant interaction of delivery personnel can introduce germs into hospital and lab settings.
That will all change with autonomous delivery, and Dronedek’s “mailbox of the future.”
“We’re working with a major health care provider to pilot delivery of blood samples from the hospital to the lab,” said Dronedek Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dan O’Toole. “We’re confident this work will do more than increase efficiencies, it will increase security throughout medical campuses while also bettering the patient experience.”
Currently, hospitals around the world rely on human delivery personnel to deliver sensitive items like blood and tissue samples between hospitals, labs and other medical facilities. This process has inherent delays as medical professionals who obtain samples that need laboratory examination wait for humans to transport the specimens from one facility to another. Additionally, those deliveries pose security risks as trusted delivery men and women could be impersonated by someone meaning to do harm. Also, humans often, and without meaning to, bring in germs and contamination to the health care facilities.
“These items can be easily delivered via drone to a Dronedek security mailbox where they can remain in a climate-controlled, secure environment until an autonomous device comes to retrieve them,” O’Toole explained. “That autonomous device can then deliver the samples to where they need to be, and results can be digitally delivered. Removing the human component takes a lot of risk out of the process.”
Parveen Chand, former COO of a large academic medical center, early advisor to Dronedek and current executive with Ascension, one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems, said he is excited at the prospect of what autonomous delivery can mean to the healthcare industry.
“Coupled with drone delivery, secure and temperature-controlled storage like the patented Dronedek system and autonomous or automated delivery technology, health systems and hospitals now have the ability to reduce expenses along the supply chain and improve efficiency,” explains Chand. “These technologies can reduce the transmission risk of pathogens and can work around the clock, offering a more reliable delivery method. Any chance we can get to improve our processes and make them more secure, while enhancing turn-around times and increasing throughput we should explore.”
O’Toole declined to identify the health care provider Dronedek is working with but said he expects to offer a demonstration soon. And not far behind that, he says, is routine use of autonomous devices.
“The future of logistics in general is autonomous,” added O’Toole. “Consumers want faster, cheaper, more accurate delivery, and we’ll certainly give them that, but these applications where lives are on the line, well, it’s just humbling to be a small part in that.”
Pilots are underway in other countries like Belgium where hospitals in August began testing drones to save time delivering human tissue samples across city centers, between patients on the operating table and in medical labs.
To see videos of Dronedek in action, visit Dronedek: The Next Generation Mailbox and New Dronedek Smart Receptacle. To learn more about Dronedek, visit the site: https://www.dronedek.com. To invest in the future of Dronedek and learn more visit the company’s StartEngine crowdfunding campaign page at startengine.com/Dronedek.
About Dronedek
Dronedek is one of the first companies in the world to focus on package security for traditional and autonomous delivery methods. The device will keep packages hot or cold, alert users to package arrivals or pickups, recharges drones and other electrical devices, and in times of need, can even serve as an alert to emergency response services. An app controls everything from when the device is opened for delivery and retrieval to its emergency alarm features. Dronedek is a company offering a new way of sending and receiving packages of up to five pounds each and is destined to become an everyday utility service alongside internet, power, and water. The device provides a safe, secure method of delivery that keeps the items in a patented receptacle. The receptacle offers complete protection from the weather and would-be thieves. The company was founded by Dan O’Toole, a patent holder and serial entrepreneur. The company is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. To learn more, visit the site: https://www.dronedek.com.
