Kurt "The Cyberguy" Knutsson explains how scientists managed to turn dead birds into drones that can potentially spy on people. You may start seeing more drones soaring through the air, and don't worry, it's not going to be from any secret spies trying to look into your home. These drones are going to be sent out for deliveries from major companies like Amazon, Walmart, Google, UPS, FedEx, Uber and DHL. CLICK TO GET KURT'S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS, SECURITY ALERTS AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER Alphabet, Google's parent company, has been experimenting with drone delivery as part of its Project Wing initiative, which aims to create a fleet of unmanned aircraft that can deliver items from food to medical supplies. Walmart has also been testing drones to deliver groceries and household essentials in select markets since 2015.

According to statistics, the healthcare drone industry has witnessed a dramatic surge in the last couple of years. In 2020, the market grew 30% and is expected to grow from $254 million in 2021 to $1,5 billion in 2028. The most common use case for healthcare drones is the delivery of medical supplies and laboratory samples. However, it appears that in 2022, new ways of using drones have become available. Research groups in the USA have completed test drone organ delivery operations and have done so successfully.

The US Army tested drones to deliver medical supplies during dangerous battlefield scenarios to wounded warriors. During a recent training exercise in California led by the US with militaries of other nations, drones dropped simulated blood and other crucial medical supplies to soldiers as part of Project Crimson. This type of technology would be deployed in circumstances where it wouldn't be safe to send people on foot for help. The drone is a vertical landing and take-off aircraft, so it does not need a runway or catapult launch to perform this life-saving missions, according to the Army. That feature allows soldiers to preserve life in the early phase immediately after an injury and help to facilitate transportation to an Army hospital.

North American professional drone maker Draganfly has sent the first of nearly a dozen humanitarian drones to the non-profit Ukraine organization Revived Soldiers Ukraine (RSU) in Europe, to be used to deliver insulin to hard-to-reach hospitals in the war-torn country. RSU has ordered 200 medical response drones from Draganfly, each costing $30,000 and equipped with temperature-managed payload boxes that can transport up to 35 pounds of blood, pharmaceuticals, insulin/medicines, vaccines, and wound care kits, the drone maker said. Because insulin is a temperature-sensitive product, quick and safe transportation is a top priority. There are roughly 2.3 million people living with diabetes in Ukraine, according to the International Diabetes Association, many of whom have Type 1 diabetes and require multiple daily injections of insulin to survive. For those living in high-conflict areas of the country, access to life-saving insulin is limited or non-existent.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a formidable tool for supply chain management and procurement services for healthcare systems. Just about any product can be sourced/evaluated with the highest efficiency using AI--for example, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical devices and equipment, supplies, components, contracts (including terms and costs), and even third-party vendors for particular services--all within a matter of hours. AI is amazingly cost-effective in that it saves healthcare systems large amounts of time and billions of dollars through improved efficiencies. For example, AI can process hundreds of thousands of products or contracts in one business day or less--an achievement that would take years if it was a manual task. AI helps hospitals control costs by making their procurement processes more cost-efficient and productive, ultimately enhancing the patient experience.

The program is Cardinal Health's first foray into drone deliveries, which the Dublin, Ohio-based distributor sees as a way around delays in restocking inventory and volatile last-minute shipping prices. It follows other efforts by companies including United Parcel Service Inc., Merck & Co. and Walmart Inc. testing the use of drones for the domestic shipment of medical products and supplies. Josh Dolan, Cardinal Health's senior vice president of pharmaceutical operations, said drone delivery would allow the company to bypass road obstacles such as natural disasters and help replenish high-turnover items. Eventually, he said, it will be useful for emergency situations in remote areas or when time is crucial, such as delivering antivenom for snake bites. While speed and reliability are the main reasons Cardinal Health is pursuing drone delivery, the flights would also allow the company to avoid fluctuations in prices for last-minute courier or helicopter deliveries, Mr. Dolan said.

A new article published last week in the European Heart Journal discusses the use of drones for delivering life-saving automated external defibrillators (AED) to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients. As the study describes, "Early treatment in line with the'chain-of-survival' concept such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation by an automated external defibrillator (AED) prior to ambulance arrival is associated with increased survival. Use of AEDs in the early-cardiac-arrest electrical phase can increase survival rates to up to 50–70%. Although hundreds of thousands of AEDs are available in high-income countries, their accessibility and use are still low." Thus, the investigators of the study designed a system to deploy drones to real-life suspected OHCA patients in order to determine whether this was a viable solution to the accessibility problem.

THE UK'S first autonomous delivery vehicle has hit the roads - giving a glimpse into how technology is set to transform the parcel delivery industry. Kar-go, a state-of-the-art self-driving delivery bot built by Academy of Robotics, uses artificial intelligence and a specially developed package management system to provide contact-free delivery. Thanks to its unique vision system, the electric vehicle is capable of delivering in both city-centres and suburban and rural locations. Capable of covering 60 miles - more than the average daily delivery round - fully loaded on a single charge this type of electric delivery bot could dramatically reduce the environmental impact of parcel deliveries. In a landmark first journey, the machine successfully transported medical supplies from a pharmacy to a care home in Hounslow, Greater London.

Drone Defence Services and the University of Nottingham will develop sensor technology to track aircraft. By monitoring all aircraft, Drone Defence aims to prevent drone misuse and enable drones to safely share the sky with other aircraft.

An NHS drone is being used to courier Covid-19 samples, blood tests and personal protective equipment between hospitals in England. It is hoped that the trials, backed by a £1.3m grant from the UK Space Agency, can establish a network of air corridors for electric drones to navigate using GPS. The remote-controlled drone, which will be piloted by an ex-military fast jet or helicopter instructor, will initially fly between Essex's Broomfield hospital, Basildon hospital and the Pathology First laboratory in Basildon. The project is the idea of Apian, a healthcare drone startup founded by Christopher Law and Hammad Jeilani. "Covid-19 has highlighted challenges in NHS supply chain logistics," said Law.