Announced at the festive Dutch Design Award ceremony, the most voted for DDA finalist – Ambulance Drone by Alec Momont – received the Frame Public Award 2015.

A recent graduate of TU Delft's industrial design programme, designer Alec Momont conceived the flying prototype during his graduation year. Realized with support from innovation platform Living Tomorrow, Momont's Ambulance Drone – whose graphics resemble helicopters employed by hospitals – takes to the skies to deliver healthcare equipment to emergency locations. Arriving to specific coordinates at speeds up to a hundred kilometers per hour, the airborne delivery unit communicates with a GPS system by app with the emergency caller's mobile phone.

Once the device lands at the correct location, the emergency responder's voice switches from the phone and is emitted from the drone itself, enabling the caller to assist the patient through the emergency situation. Functioning as a flying toolkit, the lightweight, cabron fibre device – capable of carrying its own weight in supplies – deploys its compact contents. The responder gives audible instructions to guide the caller through the necessary process to save the patient's life.

By flying in straight lines above road networks, an Ambulance Drone would be capable of reducing conventional ambulance response times from ten minutes to one, increasing patient's survival chances from 8% to 80%. At the moment, the drone is grounded in its prototype phase due to logistical factors such as regulations but nonetheless offers a societal dimension to the future of drones.

alecmomont.com
dutchdesignawards.nl