Moroccan startup Farasha Systems has created a drone specially designed to spray disinfectant in large areas in a short amount of time as a response to coronavirus. Farasha has been working with Moroccan officials to bring the specialized drone to market.
The company successfully completed a drone spraying mission yesterday in the city of Harhoura. Moroccan authorities were also present to watch over the operation.
Abderahman Kriouile, the founder of Farasha Systems, explained why the company is stepping up.
“To fight the spread of COVID-19, we decided to deploy our drones, our knowledge, and our technology for the benefit of local authorities to disinfect public places.”
Farasha Systems is now looking at drones equipped with various other payloads to work alongside those disinfecting drones. For instance, the startup plans to equip other models with thermal cameras to monitor body temperature and spot people with fevers—a potential sign of coronavirus infection.
Morocco’s efforts are just the latest in a global deployment of drones to fight COVID-19. Here are some other countries where drones are deployed.
The first country struck by the new coronavirus was also the first to start using drones to respond. Chinese authorities have used drones to call out to people who aren’t following stay-at-home orders. Farmers have deployed agricultural drones to spray disinfectant throughout villages and cities in China.
The Australian company The Little Ripper Group is currently trialing drones around Australia to see if they will be a suitable method to disinfect streets, shopping malls, and playgrounds. The Little Ripper Group acquired five additional DJI Agras MG-1P drones to accelerate the process, if given the go-ahead by authorities.
The Israeli police are taking a more aggressive approach. They are using drones to observe people who have tested positive for the virus to ensure they are following self-isolation rules. This, along with collecting cellphone data, has raised many security concerns with the public and security experts.
Jordan is using drones in a more rounded approach to monitor people, enforce curfews, and even check temperatures of people from above. The drones are equipped with thermal cameras to measure people’s temperatures and with megaphones to broadcast announcements.
Photo: Farasha Systems
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Although, it’s a great application for UAVs, regulations in the US may be too prohibitive to get this going here on the short term. Hopefully these things will be implemented in the near term.