China adapts surveying, mapping, delivery drones to enforce world’s biggest quarantine and contain Covid-19 outbreak

Shenzhen Smart Drone UAV’s drones used in surveying, mapping can lift a maximum payload of 15kg. Adaptation shows how outbreak has opened the door for innovative applications to emerge from existing tech. — SCMP

China’s government, in enforcing the world’s largest quarantine to contain the coronavirus outbreak, has adapted and co-opted industrial drones to help ensure that an estimated 50 million residents are kept at home and indoors across a dozen cities.

The software flying the drones made in Shenzhen is being rewritten to adapt their applications for disease detection and crowd management. The vehicles will use thermal sensors, high-definition zoom lenses, loudspeakers and chemical spray jets for disinfecting large areas, according to two makers of industrial drones.