We’re not in The Fifth Element yet, but almost. In Montpellier (Hérault), the Inovie group, a leading player in medical diagnostics in France, and Instadrone, a company specializing in technical services with drones, will experiment this summer with deliveries via these small propeller-driven aircraft. But there is no question, as Amazon or Pizza Hut did before them, of delivering parcels or Four Cheeses.
With Innov ATM, a company expert in the development of artificial intelligence facilitating the inclusion of drones in the airspace, Inovie and Instadrone will evaluate the relevance of using drones to transport biological samples, in particular blood products, a laboratory, in Garosud, to the Saint-Jean clinic, just over 2 km away. The aircraft, equipped with a small locker, will fly at approximately 70 to 80 meters above the ground. They will be barely noticeable with the naked eye. And inaudible.
With, then without pilots!
This test will be done in two stages. “A first, during which the drones will be piloted by professional pilots, explains Cédric Botella, the founder of Instadrone. There will be a pilot on site A, and another on site B, who will receive the drone. Then, for the second step, everything will be automated. We won’t have to touch the drones. »
For several years, at Inovie, we have been thinking of going by air, to facilitate these transports. “Since the moment we thought of this device, technologies have evolved, regulations too, and we felt that today was the right time to experiment with it”, confides Thomas Hottier, medical biologist and CEO of Inovie. This innovation, if it proves convincing, will allow laboratories and medical establishments to save precious time on deliveries.
“5, 10 or 15 minutes, for the life of a patient, this can be important”, says doctor Thomas Hottier
“Even if, sometimes, we are not very far, 5, 10 or 15 minutes, for the life of a patient, that can be very important, continues Thomas Hottier. The objective is to try to optimize the delivery time as much as possible. “Delivery times, by drones, are divided” by two, or even by three if there are traffic jams, “explains Cédric Botella. The other advantage of these aircraft is that they will “decarbonize” blood transport, which is usually provided by motorcycle or car.
There are always risks of incidents with drones. But they are tiny. “In order to minimize all risks, we put in place a whole bunch of precautions,” says the founder of Instadrone. These drones are, in particular, equipped with parachutes. If there is a problem, they go off. Furthermore, aircraft operate in specific air corridors. They can’t get out of it, it’s impossible. The software prevents them from doing so. Finally, the drones will be equipped with sensors, which make it possible to know their precise positions, and above all, to communicate with other manned aircraft. A Samu helicopter, for example, will know, in real time, where the drones are. »
“It’s not communication or marketing,” says Cédric Botella, the founder of Instadrone
The difficulty for this test in Montpellier is that Instadrone will intervene, unlike other experiments carried out elsewhere, in an urban area. “There are, of course, inhabited areas, on the ground, explains the Hérault entrepreneur. You need many, many more levels of certification and security than in other cases. »
The transport of blood samples by drones, “it is not communication, nor marketing, specifies Cédric Botella. We do not deliver pizzas or beers. These are biomedical deliveries. There is vital interest. If the experiment carried out in the coming months is successful, the delivery of biological samples via drones could be set up from 2024, in Montpellier, but also in the other sites in France managed by the Inovie group. It would be a first.