SBIR-STTR Award

More than 95% of U.S. land area is classified as rural but home to just 19% of the population. Rural communities face geographic and demographic obstacles in responding to and preparing for extreme events such as hurricanes tornadoes and flooding. The physical isolation limited economic diversity and aging population increase the chances of loss of life and time that local governments and first responders will need to respond to those in dire need of help. This is exacerbated by the fact that rural populations are already stressed by remoteness and limited access to resources and local governments have limited budgets and facilities to respond to natural disasters. In this Phase I project Hydronalix Inc. will design a series of low-cost (less than $2000 each)interchangeable modular drone attachments cumulatively called HERMES that each individually have capabilities to assist with disaster response in rural areas to help these populations and local governments especially vulnerable populations that need help to survive while waiting for rescue. HERMES are interchangeable and can easily attach to a lightweight low power drone called the Dove a humanitarian drone developed by Hydronalix. The Dove and selected HERMES modular attachments will be low-cost and help first responders aid people in rural areas that may not be immediately accessible following a natural disaster due to flooding fires other physical blockages or lack of resources to reach people quickly. Each HERMES payload will have unique mission capabilities to complete specific missions. These capabilities include delivering medicines food water or other critical supplies to rural populations depth finders and cell amplifiers for locating and establishing a line of communication with survivor and real time land mapping and depth finding capabilities to assist responders find safe routes in disaster zones.