I was invited as a Keynote Speaker by the Crisis Mappers Japan, Furuhashi Laboratory at the Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) to share about all the Humanitarian Response and Crisis Mapping related projects that WeRobotics has been doing at different parts of the world via local innovation hubs in different countries also known as Flying Labs. The event also showcases some of the Drone use related initiatives that has recently begun by partnerships between DroneBird and local municipal offices.

1. Uttam Pudasaini
NFL Coordinator
uttam@werobotics.org
WeRobotics and Flying Labs:
Uses of Drones in Humanitarian and Social Good projects

3. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-42732304/swimmers-rescued-by-drone-in-australia
291 drownings in the year to June 30- Royal Life Saving Society, Australia

4. Source: http://reliefweb.int/

6. KEY CONCERN: Drone Usage
(Aerial shots of Heritage sites and damaged areas taken by different agencies.)
May, 2015
Nepal banned the use of drones as they could leak sensitive information (videos and pictures) of its
valuable heritage sites clicked illegally. - A statement from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)
- Flying drones without permission would attract penal action according to local civil aviation law.
“It was uncontrolled influx of UAVs
through international media and
humanitarian teams that the
government was forced to take action
and restricted their use.”
6

8. Sept.2015

10. WeRobotics is established in the USA since December 2015 (501C3) and in Switzerland since
January 2017 (Non-profit association) and brings together decades of professional experience,
expertise and contacts.
FOUNDERS

11. WeRobotics currently counts
14 employees on 6 continents.

12. We create global solutions for low income and at Risk countries through our 4
sector-oriented program tracks:
AidRobotics
Address humanitarian
needs for pre/post
disaster response and
management, policy
and coordination
with robotics
solutions and data
analytics
HealthRobotics
Identify low-cost ways
that provide high-
precision health care
in remote area setting
through cargo and
mapping solutions
that are locally
managed and
maintained
EcoRobotics
Support local
communities with
sustainable farming
practices, address
nature conservation
needs and plan for
environmental
impacts in areas
affected by global
warming
DevRobotics
Address infrastructure
issues with robotics
solutions and data
analytics and create
local “Drones-as-a-
Service” markets an
ecosystems
Robotics for the Benefit of All

13. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
- Lao Tzu

14. Local Innovation Hubs : Flying Labs

15. Create local
robotics capacity
Incubation, business
support +
Marketplace
Create local ”Robotics-as-a-Service” market-
place for developing and at-risk countries
Skills training +
Technology
Partners
Projects and case
studies + Social
Good Partners
Flying Labs
(regional robotics
knowledge hubs)
Disseminate lessons learned and help perform evaluation and
advisory functions to codify best practices for global community
1
Create local
robotics Ecosystem2
3
4

17. Social Good Partners Technology Partners

18. werobotics.org/flying-labs
DR*
Flying Labs
Senegal*
Flying Labs
Pacific*
Flying Labs
Panama*
Flying Labs

20. NEPAL FLYING LABS

21. TANZANIA FLYING LABS
TANZANIA FLYING LABS

22. PACIFIC FLYING LABS

23. Philippines*
FlyingLabs
Senegal*
FlyingLabs
Panama*
FlyingLabs
US
WeRobotics
Switzerland
WeRobotics

24. DRONES FOR SOCIAL GOOD: Humanitarian and Crisis Mapping

25. 1. BUILD LOCAL CAPACITY

26. Training, 2015

27.  Kathmandu University
 Department of Urban Development
and Building Construction
ICIMOD , Medair
Rural Development Initiative
 Nepal Geomatics Engineering Society
 Robotics Association of Nepal

28. First Ever Drone Pilot Training for East African Region
 Professional and hands-on 3-day course offered by Tanzania Flying Labs.
 Use Fixed-wing and Rotary-wing Drones for a range of humanitarian and environmental projects.
 Over 60 applicants from dozens of countries including India, Swaziland, South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Zimbabwe.

29. Drone Code of Conduct for Social Good: More than just Flying
Coordinated, Safe, Ethical
And Efficient
use of Drones
in Humanitarian Action

30. 2. EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE

33. Settlement
Area
800 m
1. Drone based Hazard and Vulnerability Mapping: Partnership with Medair (NFL)
2.5 Km

36. Bukoba Earthquake Response- TFL

39. 3. FLOOD RESPONSE

41. Heaviest October rainfall since
records began in 1918.

42. Tanzania Flying Labs carried out aerial surveys of Dar es Salaam at request of city's Emergency
Response Team and coordinated the flights directly with the Civil Aviation Authority.

44. 4. Response to Tropical Cyclones and
Recovery

45. Kolovai (50km2) Navutoka (10km2) Sopu (10km2)
UAV4Resilience – Utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Disaster Assessments in the Pacific Islands project

46. https://docs.google.com/document/d/16kKik2clGutKejU8uqZevNY6JALf4aVk2ELxLeR-msQ/edit

47. UAV Imagery Supporting Caribbean Humanitarian Efforts

48. 6.Field Testing Cargo Drones

49. Local doctors : An average of 45 snakebites per month and no rapid access to antivenom.

50. Team : PFL. UAV del Peru, and the Peruvian Ministry of Health, along with some of Peru’s leading public health
experts.
Field Test: Between Local health hub Contamana and the remote village of Pampa Hermosa around 40 km away.
Result : Delivery of life-saving antivenom as well as blood samples. 35 minutes VS 6 hours Riverboat
December 2016

52. FIELD WORK
 Used a fleet of 9 cargo drones including a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing)
prototype.
 A total of 44 complete flights were logged (not counting shorter test flights).
 Types of cargo transported : Flood, mail and diagnostic test supplies
 Distances covered : Ranged from 10km to 120km.
 Three technical failures were experienced and exhaustively investigated

56. https://werobotics.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/WeRobotics-Report-on-Drone-Cargo-Field-Tests-Peru-2017.pdf
October , 2017

57. LOOKING FORWARD
 Technology partner continues working on a low-cost VTOL prototype
 Our Role :Scope the market and startup space for other platforms that fit the
needs of the use-cases we’ve identified in the Amazon Rainforest.
 Plan for 2018 :Carry out actual cargo delivery services for a 2-month period.
 Setup a small Drone port in Contamana to service smaller towns and
villages within a 100 kilometer radius.

58. Developing an Autonomous Cargo Boat for Medical Deliveries
Cuyo Archipelago
7,000+ islands, of which around 2,000 are inhabited.

59. Together with 6 enterprising students from
the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).

60. Delivering the Future from African Skies

61. 7. INCUBATING DRONE BASED LOCAL
BUSINESS
Main Objective : Sustainable Localization of Robotics Solutions

62. NFL

63. BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
TRAINING

65. BUSINESS INCUBATION PROGRAM : TANZANIA

66. This is the story of how we are building Local capacity, Use it for
solving local problems and Creating sustainable marketplace.

67. Humanitarian UAV Coordination
Coordinated, safe, ethical and efficient use of Drones in Humanitarian Action
Together with UN agencies (UNDP, WFP and UNICEF),
AND
An array of government, private and non profit stakeholders in six countries:
Maldives , Dominican Republic, Peru, Malawi, Mozambique and Myanmar
Undertook a series of workshops and practical simulations throughout 2017 to
figure out:
 what those coordination structures might look like,
 where the gaps may lie, and
 what we in the international community can do to help them.

68. PERU

69. MYANMAR

70. MOZAMBIQUE

71. DRC

72. MALAWAI

73. https://werobotics.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/02/WeRobotics-
Comparative-Analysis-of-UAV-Gaps-.pdf
Comparative Analysis of
Humanitarian UAV
National Capacity Gaps

74. KEY LEARNINGS
1. Each place has
 Strengths and weaknesses in systems,
 Differences in regulations and constellations of response actors,
 Variations in the types of emergencies likely to occur.
2. Localization of the Technology:
 If drone operators aren’t already on site by the time disaster strikes, they
probably will not arrive in time to be useful

75. KEY LESSONS : FLYING LAB MODEL
First:
 There is extensive demand across the globe for our Flying Labs.
Second:
 Our current Flying Labs model is centered on institutionalization
Third,
 A more scalable Flying Labs model is key to growing the network and scaling our
global impact.

76. AFFILIATED FLYING LABS : THE NEW MODEL
Result of field-test of our Flying Labs framework for 2 years across 3 continents. We
learned 3 important lessons during this time.
 Democratize our Flying Labs framework
YOUR OWN FLYING LAB …

77. Drones on their own aren’t valuable unless
they’re embedded in strong analytic, policy, and
partnership networks.

78. THANK YOU Uttam@werobotics.org

79. EXTRA SLIDES

80. Overall Priorities:
• Extend our thought leadership and institutional frameworks for localizing emerging tech
• Serve as primary interface between robotics industry and social good sector
• Create and maintain common data infrastructure
• Support data analysis to inform decision making
• Ensure gender balance and enable South-to-South (Lab-to-Lab) collaboration
• Perform evaluation and advisory functions to formulate best practices
• Disseminate lessons learned and information products
• Resource, scope and incubate new Flying Labs in strategic regions
Flying Labs Priorities:
• Accelerate technology transfer from robotics industry to Flying Labs
• Design curricula and provide professional trainings
• Support projects across sectors based on local, national, regional demand
• Incubate local businesses and jobs focused on Robotics-as-a-Service