InDro develops technology for UBC drone medical delivery project

InDro develops technology for UBC drone medical delivery project

Jun 17, 2025 | Drone Delivery, Indigenous Peoples/First Nations, InDro Beacon, InDro News, Medical, medical drone delivery, Scott Simmie, UBC

By Scott Simmie

 

We’re pleased to reveal more details or our partnership with UBC on a pilot project that will deliver medical supplies to two remote communities in northern British Columbia beginning in 2026.

We first announced our involvement in this post – but InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece unveiled more details during a recent online seminar hosted by CAN Health Network, a national partnership between healthcare organisations and private companies with a collective goal of introducing new solutions into the healthcare system while scaling those businesses.

There’s long been a disparity in access to healthcare between urban and rural or isolated communities. Residents in those remote communities often face greater barriers to accessing lab services, timely medication and diagnostic results. The sheer physical distance from more fully-equipped healthcare settings is a big part of the problem, though socioeconomic status can also play a role.

“When it comes to rural remote communities, which spans over 50 per cent of First Nation communities in BC, that means patients still face the geographic constraints in accessing their diagnostic tests, their medication, and all sorts of things that are very important to their patient journey,” Sandy Lee, Senior Project Manager on the UBC’s Faculty of Medicine Drone Transport Initiative, told the seminar.

This pilot project will assess the benefits that longer-range drone delivery can provide, along with what kinds of deliveries are most beneficial to patients. It will also be a chance for InDro to test out some new technology that will help enable safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight Flights.

Below: A screengrab during Philip Reece’s CAN Health Network presentation

InDro Beacon BVLOS

SAFE BVLOS

 

As you likely know, BVLOS stands for Beyond Visual Line of Sight – meaning the drone is operating farther than the operator can see. New Transport Canada regulations will permit routine, low-risk BVLOS flights after November 4, 2025 providing the operator holds a Level 1 Complex RPAS Certificate and all other regs are met.

In this pilot project, drones will carry supplies between Prince George and two remote locations: The Village of Fraser Lake, as well as the Stellat’en First Nation. Initially, the project will focus on transporting personal protective equipment and laboratory test swabs before expanding to include prescription medications and other supplies – including blood products.

But BVLOS, particularly the longer-range BVLOS these missions will require, is not a slam-dunk.

“We’re going to fly over some 200 kilometres of airspace,” Reece told the seminar. “It’s maybe a two or three-hour flight, and the drone will encounter all sorts of things during that flight and we need to ensure the airspace is safe. The airspace they fly in may be busy at times  – we might have helicopters or sea planes or hydro line inspections going on.”

What’s more, weather conditions might vary significantly during the course of the mission. Just because it’s good weather at the launch point doesn’t guarantee things are fine 100 km out. And so here, InDro has developed a new innovation.

 

INDRO BEACON

 

When flying BVLOS, a lot of things need to line up. The weather must be suitable for the entire route. The Command and Control link must be robust, and the mission must be planned so that terrain won’t interfere with that crucial signal. Equally important  (as the new regulations wisely outline), there must be a system to ensure there’s no conflict with traditional aviation. When the proposed mission is some 200-300 kilometres, everything possible must be done to ensure realtime situational awareness.

That’s where the new InDro Beacon comes in.

It looks a bit like a solar-powered weather station. And it is that, but also much more.

In addition to measuring wind and precipitation, each InDro Beacon contains a camera. That camera gives the Pilot-in-Command a realtime look at cloud cover and weather systems from multiple points along the route. In addition, each 5G-connected Beacon has a highly sensitive microphone to pick up the sound of any nearby traditional aircraft – firing off an immediate alert to the PiC.

“I think of Beacon as being like having multiple skilled Visual Observers along the route,” explains InDro’s Philip Reece. “It can detect and alert on any potential conflicts, as well as provide critical data on localised weather systems.”

Initial deployment on the project will likely involve five InDro Beacons. One will be at each landing zone, with several more strategically placed along the route for optimal visibility and connection. Once the viability of that planned route is thoroughly assessed, more Beacons will be placed along the route.

“This is a long-range, long-term project,” says Reece. “There have been many ambitious drone delivery BVLOS projects that have fallen to the wayside. We plan a meticulous, evidence-based trajectory that will lead to safe and routine BVLOS in even the most demanding surroundings.”

Below: The first prototype of the InDro Beacon, followed by the relevant portion of the CAN Health Network seminar

 

InDro Beacon UBC

INDRO’S TAKE

 

This isn’t our first foray into drone deliveries for medical purposes. During the peak of the pandemic, we delivered COVID19 test swab kits between a remote First Nations community in the Gulf Islands and the mainland, saving a healthcare worker from hand-carrying these by ferry on a daily basis. We have also previously partnered with Canada Post and London Drugs to demonstrate secure delivery of critical medications to island communities.

This project, however, is different. It will be an ongoing program to determine not only the benefits of drone delivery for remote and First Nation communities – but to develop a safe system for ensuring those deliveries.

“This is kind of a big deal,” says InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We plan to be very meticulous throughout, improving all of InDro Beacon’s multiple capabilities until we are absolutely satisfied. Once we reach that stage, we will be producing this commercially for the industry at large.”

Stay tuned.

InDro, UBC partner on medical drone deliveries to remote communities

InDro, UBC partner on medical drone deliveries to remote communities

May 6, 2025 | Drone Delivery, Indigenous Peoples/First Nations, InDro News, Industry News, Scott Simmie, UBC

By Scott Simmie

 

InDro Robotics is pleased to partner with the University of British Columbia on a pilot project that will use drones to deliver critical medical supplies to remote communities in that province.

It’s a use-case InDro has long supported. In fact, during previous trials we have securely delivered prescription medications to Gulf Islands in conjunction with Canada Post and London Drugs. It was Canada’s first-ever BVLOS RPAS delivery of its kind. That, however, was a short-term demonstration. The UBC partnership is long-term and has broader goals.

“There are multiple aspects to this project,” explains InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “In addition to delivering critical medical supplies, we’ll be evaluating what kinds of cargo can be delivered, how drones perform in year-round weather, and ultimately how beneficial this service is for communities and local health-care providers.”

Initially, the project will focus on transporting personal protective and laboratory test swabs before expanding to include prescription medications and other supplies – including blood products. InDro has expertise in this field as well, carrying out trials in Montreal in 2019 to deliver simulated blood products by drone between hospitals. The work required strict temperature controls to ensure viability.

All of this is very much up our alley. In fact, InDro carried out deliveries of COVID test supplies during the height of the pandemic to a remote First Nations community:

LOGICAL, EFFICIENT

 

You don’t need to look very hard to find examples of where drone delivery of medical supplies has been hugely successful. The most well-known is Zipline, which has logged more than 100 million miles (160M km) delivering vaccines, blood products and other medical supplies in Africa and has recently expanded into some US locations.

The philosophy here is simple: It’s much faster and more efficient to move products to patients – rather than vice-versa.

“For generations, we’ve had a medical system where we tend to move patients to resources, as opposed to resources to patients,” explains Dr. John Pawlovich, the Rural Doctors’ UBC Chair on Rural Health, in this UBC post on the project.

“It’s the same problem around rural Canada and around the world—resources that patients need are either in short supply or they don’t exist in rural, remote or Indigenous communities.”

Dr. Pawlovich and his team are working closely with the Village of Fraser Lake, located west of Prince George, as well as with the Stellat’en First Nation. Both of these qualify as isolated communities, where it’s not always easy to get critical supplies quickly.

“Based on the isolated location of our community and the needs of our residents, drone transport may enhance our access to COVID-19 testing and medication without travelling and endangering other members of our community,” says Chief Robert Michell of the Stellat’en First Nation.

 

NOT JUST PATIENTS

 

It’s not simply about making things easier for patients. As we learned with shuttling COVID test supplies to and from Penelakut Island, it can also help healthcare providers. In that example, it meant a community clinic worker no longer had to pick up and deliver these supplies in person – a nearly full-day endeavour that took them away from helping patients in their community. Instead, in coordination with InDro Ops, they simply loaded or unloaded a drone that landed outside their clinic.

And, says Dr. Pawlovich, there’s no question the selected communities could benefit from a boost in healthcare access.

“Residents of rural, remote and Indigenous communities face much greater health-care disparities than other residents of BC,” he says. The UBC article states that life expectancy is lower and that people in these communities have reduced access to specialty care, imaging and laboratory investigations.

“These inequities predate COVID-19. They’ve been amplified during the pandemic and continue to exist. We’re looking at how technology can start to shrink and close that inequity gap.”

Below: Stellat’en First Nation, which is close to the Village of Fraser Lake. The drone deliveries will be coming from Prince George.

UBC Drone Delivery Village of Fraser Lake

INDRO’S TAKE

 

This isn’t our first foray into the world of healthcare and drone delivery. But it is our first long-term project in the field.

“There’s a lot we’re going to learn with this research,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “As it progresses, we hope to expand the range and payload of these missions to best benefit patients and healthcare providers. Over time, it’s our hope to be able to respond even to emergencies, getting supplies to those who need them most in a timely fashion.”

Flights for the new project will commence in 2026 – and we’ll be sure to update you!

Consumers ready for drone delivery: Auterion

Consumers ready for drone delivery: Auterion

Jul 27, 2022 | Drone Delivery, Industry News, Scott Simmie

Consumers love their deliveries.

Whether it’s from hugely popular Amazon or a local retailer, there’s been an explosion in demand for deliveries since the COVID pandemic took hold. People have largely embraced the convenience of a truck pulling up and dropping off goods – despite the carbon footprint of Last Mile deliveries.

But what about drones? Are consumers ready to embrace drone delivery? According to the drone Open-Source company Auterion, nearly half of US consumers are indeed ready to start receiving goods from above.

Auterion

Auterion is a major force in the drone world. In a nutshell, it provides “an ecosystem of connected drones, payloads, and apps within a single easy to use platform based on open-source standards.” In other words, Auterion software simplifies the workflow of all aspects of drone operations. Auterion works with more than 100 drone manufacturers – and that number is growing.

Because its software is used by so many end-users, the company thought it would be a good idea to take the pulse of consumers when it comes to drone deliveries. So it surveyed more than 1000 people to produce a report entitled “Consumer Attitudes on Drone Delivery.”

Its findings? Americans are ready.

The report found “a solid majority of Americans (58%) favor the idea of drone deliveries and even more (64%) think drones are becoming an option for home delivery now or will be in the near future. With more than 80% reporting packages delivered to their homes on a regular basis, the survey finds that Americans are generally ready to integrate drone delivery into daily life.”

And of the 64 per cent who think drones are an option for home delivery, here’s the breakdown for when they believe this will become a viable option:

  • 32% think it’s possible now or within the next 1 to 2 years,
  • 18% say within 3 to 4 years, and
  • 14% within 5 to 10 years

While that’s encouraging, the Auterion report also found some hesitancy.

Auterion Drone Delivery

Not everyone is enthused

 

There is some hesitancy. In fact, 43 per cent of those surveyed feared that the drone might break down during delivery. Other concerns include:

  • 39% – the drone will deliver my items to the wrong address,
  • 38% – if something happens to the drone, I won’t get a refund,
  • 37% – that my items will get ruined by the travel,
  • 35% – that my items will be left unattended making stealing easier for porch bandits, and
  • 32% – that the sky will be cluttered with ugly/noisy technology.

On that last concern, Alphabet’s WING discovered during its early trials in Australia that there was significant opposition to the noise produced by its drones. (The fact WING drones have 14 propellors might have played a role here.)

But there’s ongoing work on reducing drone noise levels, including some innovative new propellor designs. As for some of the other concerns raised, Auterion CEO Lorenz Meier says drones are ready for the task.

“Cargo drones are now able to understand the environment with precision, to communicate through control software in a common language, and to predict safe landing spots in real time for fast package delivery, as well as emergencies and other situations,” says Meier in the report.

“While traffic is jammed and fuel prices are volatile, air space is massive and becoming more accessible. Reducing reliance on gas-powered delivery vehicles with tough, environmentally friendly cargo drones is ultimately a safer, more flexible and more cost-effective approach to delivery.”

The technology is ready. So too, it appears, are most American consumers.

 

Drone Delivery Canada

InDro’s Take

 

InDro played an early role in proving drone deliveries in Canada. The company has shuttled presciption medications to remote locations, transported simulated blood products between hospitals – and even delivered COVID-19 testing supplies for a island-based First Nations community during the peak of the pandemic. InDro Robotics was also the first company in Canada to receive a Cargo License from the Canadian Transportation Agency.

While we acknowledge there’s demand for drone deliveries, our own view is that this technology is perhaps best initially served by delivering urgent medications or other critical supplies to remote or isolated communities and homes.

There’s certainly an argument to be made on the environmental benefits of drones for Last-Mile delivery. But delivering coffee and bagels – though convenient for consumers – could be disruptive to neighbourhoods. We suspect city-dwellers are likely to be more accepting of drone deliveries when the cargo is critical, and not incidental.

Ultimately, and with reductions in noise, there will likely be room for both.

The Auterion survey contains far more insights than we were able to capture; you can read more and download the report here.