Design on the frontline
Developing a compact lifesaving drone for beach rescue
In 2017, while on holiday with his family in Cornwall, recent graduate Dominic Leatherland witnessed a teenager become detached from their bodyboard and pulled out to sea due to rough conditions.
He watched as two off-duty lifeguards battled the waves to reach the struggling casualty, but the height of the waves and speed of the water made it difficult to reach them quickly. Thankfully the rescue mission was successful, and the incident provided Dominic with inspiration for his final year project.
Dominic decided to explore the idea and use of drones and found that they had previously been prototyped for use in this scenario - however, they were large, commercial ones that carried bulky rescue equipment. This meant they couldn't easily be loaded onto the back of a rescue vehicle, nor were they transportable on foot.
I picture SERVITA being used by beach lifeguards and emergency services to provide rapid support to individuals in distress. For some casualties, the early intervention this product can provide could be the difference between life and death.
Dominic set out to design a smaller, portable system which could be deployed much faster and without specialist lifeguard training. SERVITA is a small, compact drone that flies above hazardous waters to locate individuals in distress and deploys a buoyancy aid that automatically inflates when hitting the water, helping casualties stay afloat while they wait for a rescue team to reach them.
He has created a functional prototype of the drone and accompanying inflatable, and testing has been conducted on a small scale. He also used turbulence and velocity simulations in the product’s developmental phase to ensure SERVITA’s design allows for optimum drone performance.
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