Drones give water rescue teams a new advantage

At the end of August, in Helsinki, a pilot was conducted to see if a drone could transport a rescue buoy, a flotation device that opens upon water contact. Drones are already used for surveying accident sites and searching for those in need, so transporting a buoy to someone in distress at sea would be a logical additional task.

“Drones are a functional addition to rescue work. With their help, a person in need of assistance can be located quickly in many situations,” says Fire Chief Petri Korhonen from The Helsinki Rescue Department.

“In this pilot, we tested not only the drone’s cargo dropping but also safe flying in the challenging environment of the harbor area,” says Timo Lind, the lead researcher at VTT. Lind was responsible for the technological implementation of the pilot.

Drone pilots are important because they give the city ideas and information on how drones could be used responsibly. Transportation and cargo dropping is one of many possible usecases.

This pilot was part of the European Union-funded international CITYAM project, which supports cities in adopting drones and experiments with various tasks for which unmanned aerial vehicles could be used. In Stockholm, drones have been tested for chasing geese away from beaches, and in Hamburg, for surveying the port’s renovation needs.

The pilot and the CITYAM project are coordinated by the City of Helsinki’s innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki. The pilot was carried out in cooperation with VTT, the Port of Helsinki, and the Helsinki Rescue Department.

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