International. Lifeguard drones are faster and may be the first to assist a bather in distress while the lifeguard arrives. The use of drones on the beaches is going to become a reality and they will be the new lifeguards. In the sands of some countries they have already tried them and in Chile they seem willing to put them into action.
In case of danger or drowning, any lifeguard should take their equipment, run away, get into the sea and swim to where the victim is. It could take a minute to travel a hundred meters. On the other hand, if it has the help of a drone, it could pilot it from the sand and in less than 30 seconds send a lifeguard to the person who is drowning.
The 'lifeguard planes' would be equipped with a thermal camera with which they would locate exactly the point where the person is and where he has to launch the float. In Spain, the use of lifeguard drones is also being evaluated and experimented with. In fact, an Albacete company, Aeronáutica Dron S.L. participates in the Drones for Good contest, an international contest convened by the Arab Emirates and in which the most innovative application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is awarded with one million dollars.
They are convinced of the usefulness of drones at sea above all because of the great advantage of drastically reducing the response and rescue time. In the minds of its promoters it is also used, in addition to beaches, in swamps, lakes and even by boat where crew or passengers can fall into the sea and due to the dimensions of the transport it is very difficult to maneuver for rescues.
On the crowded Australian beaches, the use of rescue drones has already been put into practice for months. Surf Life Saving Australia is an organization that, among other things, is responsible for the rescue tasks of bathers and surfers who enjoy Australian beaches, has decided to use drones to patrol the beaches and detect any type of problem, for example, give the alarm with the presence of a shark.
In the tests carried out, the drone had a flight autonomy of about 15 minutes and a wingspan of 1 meter and, in addition, could carry cameras to perform beach surveillance tasks. In the case of detecting any danger or anomaly, it can also carry a siren with which to alert bathers and surfers in the area and, in case you lose control of the device for any reason, you will be equipped with buoys so that it does not sink into the ocean.
According to the head of Surf Life Saving Australia, this model can solve staff shortages and can be very effective when it comes to covering large swaths of land and, in the event that the tests are satisfactory, the model could be applied on all the beaches of the country, thus providing them with a remote surveillance system.
