How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives

Most people think

that new technology,

or advanced technology

can never start in Africa.

Instead, they think that the best way
to help the continent advance

is by providing aid or services

that the continent
can't provide for itself.

So while we see advanced technology

like robotics and aritificial intelligence
growing exponentially

in the developed world,

those same people are worried

that a technologically backward Africa
is falling behind.

That attitude couldn't be more wrong.

I'm a robotics entrepreneur
who's spent a lot of time here in Africa.

In 2014, we created zipline,

which is a company that uses
electric, autonomous aircraft

to deliver medicine to hospitals
and health centers on demand.

And last year,

we launched the world's first
automated delievery system

operating at national scale.

And guess what?

We did not do that in the US,

we didn't do it in Japan,

we didn't do it in Europe.

It was actually President Paul Kugame

and the Rwandan Minsitry of Hleaht

that made a big bet on the potential
of this technology,

and signed a commerical contract

to deliver a majority
of the country's blood on demand.

(Applause)

Yeah, they deserve the applause.

So why is blood important?

Rwana collects between 60 and 80,000
units of blood a year.

So this is a product
that when you need it,

you really, really need it.

But blood is also challenging because
it has a very short shelf life,

there are lots of different
storage requirements,

and it's really hard to predict the demand
for all of these different blood groups

before a patient actually needs something.

But the cool thing is
that using this technology,

Rwanda has been able to keep
more blood centralized,

and then provide it when
a patient needs something

to any hospital or health center
in an average of just 20 or 30 minutes.

So do you guys want to see how it works?

(Audience) Yes.

All right, nobody believes me,

so better to show.

This is our distribution center

which is about 20 kilometers
outside of Kigali.

This actually used to be a cornfield
nine months ago,

and with the Rwandan government,

we built this center in a couple weeks.

So when a patient is having an emergency,

a doctor or nurse at that hospital
can send us a Whatsapp

telling us what they need.

And then our team will immediately
spring into action.

We pull the blood from our stock

which is delievered from the National
Center for Blood Transfusion,

we scan the blood into our system,

so the Ministry of Health knows
where the blood is going.

And then we'll basically
pack it into a Zip,

which is what we call these little
autonomous airplanes

that run on batteries.

And then once that Zip is ready to go,

we accelerate it from zero to 100
kilometers an hour

in about half of a second.

And from the moment it leaves
the end of the launcher,

it's completely autonomous.

This is out air traffic controller
calling it in

to Kigali International Airport.

And when the Zip arrives at the hospital,

it descends to about 30 feet,

and drops the package.

We use a really simple paper parachute --

simple things are best --

that allows the package to come
to the ground gently and reliably

in the same place every time.

It's just like ride sharing;

the doctors get a text message
one minute before we arrive saying,

"Walk outside and receive your delivery."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And then the doctors have
what they need to save a person's life.

So this is actually watching
a delivery happen

from our distribution center,

and this vehicle is about
50 kilometers away.

We're able to watch the vehicle
as it makes a delivery at a hospital

in real time.

And you may have noticed there are pings

that are coming off of
that vehicle on the screen.

Those pings are actually data packets

that we're getting
over the cell phone networks,

so these planes have SIM cards
just like your cell phone does,

and they're communicating
over the cell network

to tell us where they are
and how they're doing at all times.

So believe it or not,

we actually buy family plans
for this fleet of vehicles

because that's how we get the best rates.

(Laughter)

It's actually not a joke.

(Laughter)

Today we're delivering about 20 percent
of the national blood supply of Rwanda

outside of Kigali.

We serve about 12 hospitals,

and we're adding hospitals to that network
at an accelerating rate.

All of those hospitals only receive
blood in this way.

And most of those hospitals actually place
multiple order every day.

So the reason --

in all of health care logistics,

you're always trading off
waste against access.

So if you want to solve waste,

you keep everything centralized,

and as a result,

when patients are having emergencies,

sometimes they don't have
the medical product that they need.

If you want to solve access,

you stock a lot of medicine
at the last mile,

at hospitals or health centers,

and then patients have
the medicine they need,

but you end up throwing
a lot of medicine out,

which is very, very expensive.

What's so amazing is that
the Rwandan government

has been able to break
this cycle permanently.