The speed that drones can be deployed makes them ideal for delivering items when time is of the essence. The Ambulance Drone and Defikopter, for example, are used for transporting defibrillators to those in need. Now, Project Ryptide plans to use drones to deliver life-rings to swimmers in distress.
Unlike the similar Pars aerial robot, the Ryptide is not actually a drone itself. It's an attachment designed to be installed on a drone and carry a folded, inflatable life-ring. When the drone has been flown to a location above the distressed swimmer, a button on the drone controller can be pressed to remotely release the life-ring. When the life-ring hits the water, a salt tablet dissolves allowing a spring pin to pierce a CO2 cartridge and the life-ring to inflate in about 3 seconds.
The project, which is at pre-production prototype stage, was conceived by Bill Piedra, a part-time teacher at the King Low Heywood Thomas (KLHT) school in Stamford, Connecticut. Piedra began working on the design in January 2014 and then began developing it further with students at KLHT in September 2014.
"Ryptide was designed so that anyone can be a lifeguard," Piedra tells Gizmag. "We had the casual user in mind when we designed the basic model; someone that might take their drone to the beach, boating, a lake, or even ice skating. It could be useful in the case of someone falling through the ice while skating, for example."
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