The biggest health care provider in the western part of the state is testing a new way to connect its operations.
For two weeks this month, a drone has been buzzing over Carilion Clinic’s medical facilities in Roanoke. It’s been delivering medical supplies and medications around Carilion’s campus and to some offices up to three miles away.
Home base is a trailer-sized landing facility where packages are automatically loaded and unloaded and securely stored. In addition to testing pick up and drop off systems, the proof-of-concept testing also had to account for aircraft, like Carilion's fleet of medevac helicopters.
This was the second round of testing in a partnership between Carilion and a company called DroneUp.
"Next step is we are looking out at how do we really operationalize year round with more and more use cases for Carilion Clinic and Roanoke," says Greg James. James DroneUp’s vice president of business development.
The future challenge for the project is increasing the distance. Carilion vice president Paul Davenport says that could connect its facilities across western Virginia in a new way.
"The challenge that we really have is making sure we can do that on Interstate 81 and move throughout the system on the ground," Davenport says, describing its current logistics setup. "The air provides us a much cleaner line of sight and faster opportunity to get items to where they need to go."
Current regulations prohibit drones from carrying certain items like biohazards and opioids. The payload during this testing was limited to ten pounds.
James believes DroneUp's DBX delivery platform could have use for delivery to other settings. "I think in the future, if you live in a multi-tenant dwelling or apartment building, this could serve also as a drop off box."
