Do Drones Have A Place in the Health Industry?

Dr. Manish Kumar directs the Cooperative Distributed Systems Laboratory and co-directs the UAV MASTER Lab at the University of Cincinnati.

His research interests include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, robotics, decision-making and control in complex systems, multi-sensor data fusion, swarm systems, and multiple robot coordination and control.

Manish and other university Researchers have innovated a way to integrate basic telehealth services into a drone, potentially expanding the bounds of what previous innovators ever envisioned with these two technologies individually. The research team collaborated to develop a semi-autonomous prototype that can be dispatched right to people's homes. The drones are big enough to carry medicine or medical supplies but small enough to maneuver the tight confines of a home using navigational algorithms developed by UC engineers." A novel aspect is that the drone will also integrate "cameras and a display screen so patients can talk to health care professionals from the comfort of their home," in addition to carrying "a waterproof box the size of a small first-aid kit to deliver medical supplies or collect self-administered lab tests."

Manish is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has served as the Chair of the Robotics Technical Committee of the ASME's Dynamic Systems and Control Division, and as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurements and Control.

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show Podcast, Manish talks about the University of Cincinnati's research into drones and the innovative use of drones for telehealth.