UAV Courier Pigeons Deliver Medical Supplies, Sans Awkward Number Two’s

Here’s a great example of a robot originally developed for war being reused to help those in need. These tiny UAVs were once spy planes, but today they could deliver medical samples from isolated South African villages to labs for testing, or deliver emergency medicines and antidotes to those same locations. “The implications of these delays are huge for the individual and for the community,” says Barry Mendelow, a project leader with the South African National Health Laboratory Service. “The patient is waiting for treatment, and in the meantime they could be passing on a very contagious disease.”

And, Barry, when these things get cheap enough for the mass market, give me a ring. There’s this remote on my coffee table that’s just out of reach. [New Scientist]