This Rescue Drone turns into a human safety net

I’ve always maintained that a robot should be built to do things humans can’t. Drones also fall in the same category. We can teach drones to perform high-risk activities and pull off rescue attempts that a human couldn’t do, either because of physical limitations, or because of health risks. This is the Net Guard Drone. It falls perfectly into the category I just described… well, ‘falls’ may not be the most appropriate word.

The Net Drone is a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made together by joining four identical quadrants with propellers. The drone takes off into the sky to rescue victims stuck at the top of high-rises in the event of a calamity requiring evacuation. It then, promptly, splits into four parts, as a safety net unfurls between the individual parts, creating a protective bed the victim can jump onto. Once the victim lands safely in the net, the drone carries them to safety, ensuring no human lives are endangered in the high-altitude, high-risk rescue attempt. While the technology to pull off such a complex rescue doesn’t really exist, the concept definitely makes a great case for how drones should be built in the future to assist humans in life-threatening situations.

The Net Guard is a winner of the Golden Pin Concept Design Award for the year 2018.

Designers: Liu Xiang, Diao Hao-Ming, Li Hao-Hu, Zhu Nan-Tong, Li Guo-Yu & Hu Zhen-Yuan (Guangdong Polytechnic University)

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Sarang Sheth
Sarang is the co-editor in chief of Yanko Design. He is a former industrial designer at a Bangalore-based multidisciplinary design studio, working in areas including appliances, FMCG, packaging, technology, luxury, etc. Sarang has written about design and technology for over a decade and has been a jury member on international design awards. He occasionally works on tech concepts featured on Forbes, The Verge, Hypebeast, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Tom's Guide, LetsGoDigital, and Unbox Therapy. Sarang graduated from MIT Institute of Design, Pune.