Autonomous drone aids heat-exhausted hikers
Team 26510's custom payload release system delivers emergency water to hikers in distress.
Arizona's extreme heat increases the risk for hikers to become dehydrated, injured or stranded. In Phoenix alone, more than 200 hikers suffering from heat-related illness are rescued every year from the city's parks and preserves.
"Many people in Arizona know that it can get incredibly hot and the heat can lead to dangerous levels of dehydration,” said Bella Surano, aerospace engineering senior and Team 26510 procurement lead. “Our project aims to assist with this problem by sending a drone to not only deliver water to dehydrated hikers but also give search and rescue the exact locations for their rescue."
Currently, no widely adopted autonomous system exists to provide water before first responders arrive. Instead of replacing traditional search and rescue operations, the team’s semi-autonomous drone would complement them.
The students have completed key components of their prototype, including a quadcopter – a four-rotor drone capable of stable flight – and a custom payload release mechanism that safely deploys a bottle of water to a hiker below.
The team is now integrating self-guided navigation, human detection and telemetry systems that transmit the drone's location and flight data in real time, allowing it to identify a hiker, deliver water, and relay the person's coordinates to search-and-rescue teams before safely returning to base.
The payload release system lowers a bottle of water to a stranded hiker.
“Through testing, we’re measuring flight range, battery life, payload capacity and delivery accuracy to evaluate the drone's ability to complete reliable emergency response missions,” she said.
The drone design serves as proof of concept for project advisor Steve Larimore. If successful, the drone can become a tool for emergency response in remote desert environments where every minute matters.
The team is working alongside members of Southern Arizona Rescue Association and Phoenix Fire and Rescue, gathering feedback on how quickly the drone needs to deploy and the importance of GPS accuracy from professionals with experience in Arizona's rugged terrain.
Those conversations have helped shape the team's design while providing valuable experience presenting technical ideas to industry professionals and emergency responders.
"By actively participating in the brainstorming, prototyping, testing, rebuilding and presentation of this project, I feel much more confident in my abilities as an engineer, a teammate and a leader," Surano said.