The future of drones is bright. From event photography, inspection, research & rescue to product deliveries, they take care of many things and ease the tasks. Drones have gained immense popularity due to their ability as they are fast, reliable, and inexpensive.
But, a couple of months ago, drones changed the entire concept when Zipline delivered the COVID-19 vaccine in an emergency. One of the best Robotic Companies in USA, Zipline had made fast, reliable, and secured deliveries in the critical situation of the pandemic. It plays a really crucial role in the medical supply infrastructure on a national level.
Zipline, however, will soon tie up with ecommerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart to deliver the essential products. But before it came into the role, Zipline had made the complex situation easy with the fast delivery of COVID-19 vaccination when the entire world was in need of better health care with immediate vaccine doses.
How Zipline Made it Possible?
Pfizer and BioNTech, COVID-19 vaccination companies, collaborated with the logistics company Zipline to deliver the vaccination in a limited time. With the help of the Zipline, these companies made it possible to deliver long-distance vaccines at a national scale.
Zipline has made end-to-end vaccine delivery solutions and made over 50,000 doses of distribution in Ghana under ultra-cold chain conditions (-90° to -60° C).
Zipline Confirmed End-to-End Delivery of Vaccine
Delivering the COVID-19 vaccine to people in remote locations was a key challenge, particularly when vaccines require cold and ultracold storage. Zipline made it possible with its fast, flexible, and reliable delivery.
Besides this, another challenge was to meet the fluctuating demand. Zipline helped Pfizer and BioNTech to deliver the vaccines and meet the flexible demands. To date, Zipline is distributing vaccinations from all manufacturers, including these two, to regions across Ghana.
This end-to-end model starts with the vaccine manufacturing facility in Europe and ends with the delivery in Ghana.
- Vaccines were manufactured at Pfizer Puurs, Belgium.
- From there, the vaccine was shipped via a thermal shipping container with dry ice.
- Vaccine arrived in Ghana’s Capital.
- Vaccination had distributed Zipline distribution centres across the country, which was equipped with Stirling Ultra-low storage freezers.
- Vaccines are kept at 2-8 degrees Celsius.
- Here, special thermal packaging has been developed to deliver up to 25, 2ml.
- To maintain 2-3° C for a maximum of four hours, drones have to come back to the distribution centre in the event of unplanned distribution.
How Does Zipline Drone Operate?
Zipline drones are simple to operate. They are designed and manufactured in California, and batteries are assembled in Rwanda. These drones are communicated via 4G SIM cards and have a GPS module to track them. They are also equipped with a backup engine in case the main engine fails.
Zipline drones have sensors to analyze the flight conditions that allow them to come back if the conditions are not suitable. The drone also has a parachute to land safely elsewhere in case both engines fail.
The drone takes a maximum of 30 minutes to recharge the batteries. It also has a black box to store the data.
How Much Time Does Zipline Take to Deliver the Product?
The healthcare centres can request delivery by SMS, Call or Whatsapp. After receiving the request, packaging and taking off the drone take less than six minutes. The order placed by approved health care centers is displayed on the big screen of the laboratory.
If the stock is available, the operator validates the order. Once the laboratory finds the complete stock, the reference ID and QR code are linked with the order to the healthcare centre and associated with a flight plan.
The routes of the hospitals and other healthcare centres are preloaded on the internal plane system. For each healthcare centre to be approved and receive the delivery, all the details of the flight must be available in the database.
Before activating the flight, the operator confirms all the actions with the help of the smartphone, which is assigned to the drone and coupled with a QR Code. The packaging is biodegradable and is put on strict weighing. The package is safely loaded on the drone and is ready to take off.
Now you can guess how helpful drones are and how they transformed the way of businesses! However, the technology is new, and they have not yet reached their full potential, but we can say that their impact is not small.
In the upcoming time, they will be seen roaming around us because of many reasons. They are efficient, cost-effective, and easy to access. Aerial photos, videos, gathering and analyzing data, delivery of goods, everything is and will be easier with the help of drones.
Zipline is one of the best robotic companies in the USA that manufacture drones. The company was founded by Keller Rinaudo, KeenanWyrobek, and Willian Hetzler. It delivers vital shipments in the fastest, most reliable and safest way. After delivering COVID-19 vaccines, Zipline is considered the best drone service globally.
