Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) popularly known as Drones are autonomous flying vehicles. They originated from the needs to pilot a vehicle without the need for a human on board. The best place to pilot a vehicle without an human on board is in combats (warfare). However, the first created UAVs, by an American Inventor, designed to carry bombs to assist troops on ground didn’t see combat because they couldn’t fly.
Few years later, precisely in 1973, an Israeli inventor created the rotary drones which uses several propellers to be lifted off the ground. He went on to invent one of the most well-known military UAVs, the Predator drone, which first flew in 1994. Today, there are several types of UAVs, typically split into rotary UAVs and fixed-winged UAVs. Rotary UAVs are agile in the sense that they can be propelled into different directions. Due to this, rotary UAVs are typically used for aerial photography, surveillance, monitoring and delivery purposes. On the other hand, fixed-winged UAVs don’t need additional supply of energy to rotate their blades/wings. These type of UAVs are mostly used in the armed forces for surveillance and intelligence gathering.
How are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles advancing Industrial Revolution?
As nations and corporation work towards achieving a net zero on carbon emissions by 2050, many industries are looking to UAVs as an alternative means of transportation. The following ways are some of the many ways UAVs are being used in different industries.
1. Agriculture
The oldest and the best industry uses UAVs in farming. Farmers and agricultural engineers use drones for crop monitoring. Drones helps in accurately planning some planting process such as fertiliser delivery, and harvesting. This process is often referred to as precision farming due to the high level of precision that drone servers can map out land use.
2. Health
The health industry uses drones for medical supplies. Medicine delivery is one of the most important ways drones are revolutionising delivery systems. With drones, the health industry can respond much quicker (and farther to remote areas) to emergencies than other means of transportation.
3. Space Exploration
The first drone in Space, Ingenuity, landed on Mars in February 2021. Since then it’s been used to explore the Space and provide information about flying on Mars.
4. Special Delivery
This is somewhat the most popular way drones are revolutionising package deliveries. You can make a purchase on sites like Amazon and have your package specially delivered to you via drones.
5. Wildlife Monitoring
Drones are used to watch over wildlife and most especially the rare and endangered species in distant lands and water bodies. Drones helps in faster monitoring, reporting and response when needed.
