One of finalists of the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge competition is this team, which is working on doing the following:
Optimizing Immunization Systems: Delivering Vaccines with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
George Barbastathis and collaborators at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in the U.S. are developing unmanned aerial vehicles that can be deployed by health care workers via cell phones to swiftly deliver vaccines to hard-to-reach locations.
Comments
Another project that uses our ArduCopter on their study project http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/delivering-drugs-by-arducopter
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is a PR firm. That this article stimulates the warm and fuzzies for this organization is the reason you're reading it.
Just because its not new doesn't mean its not a great idea. What is great is Bill Gates putting money behind it and making it a reality.
This idea is way old to be frank. But again, to a foundation that may not know of past projects it sounds promising to them. That said many have already thought of UAVs for remote delivery of stuff, whether Medicines, Food, Aid and supplies its not a new thought or idea at all....quite common to be honest....
I have done this in 1.6 years ago, in school competition.
After that, Matternet proposed some idea.
I don't know why this team introduced like new? :-)
Matternet, these guys, PigeonPost, TacoCopter... Pretty exciting, we are almost to "Rainbow's End" by Vernor Vinge