Drone advancements are transforming medical equipment delivery and driving the evolution of airspace regulations to enhance organ transplant systems.
Drone technology is advancing, enhancing capabilities in distance and safety. This progress has spurred an uptick in drone companies transporting medical equipment. With the commercialisation of drone delivery, airspace regulations are evolving to accommodate these new aerial vehicles. Concurrently, there's a rising demand for organ transplants, highlighted by 43k transplants in 2022. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is aiming for 50k transplants by 2026, underscoring the push for a more efficient deceased donor organ system. This project is not affiliated with UPS. It is a class project.
Innovation opportunity
UPS Healthcare can potentially capitalize on drone technology for efficient organ transport, leveraging their extensive infrastructure to enhance medical logistics.
UPS Healthcare is uniquely positioned to leverage the potential of the emerging drone technology for organ transport as a growth opportunity. They boast an existing infrastructure that includes 11 large-scale cold storage facilities. Furthermore, there's potential to convert suitable UPS locations, with over 5000 nationwide, into a comprehensive network of drone stations. Their UPS Flight Forward initiative further amplifies this potential in medical logistics.
Constraints
The current system's low reliability, geographical constraints, high costs, and lack of accountability hinder efficient organ transportation.
Low Reliability
Since 9/11, organs are shipped as cargo and are subject to the same delays or even misplacement as regular baggage.
Geographical Constraints
Complicated and inefficient transportation logistics limit the distance organs can travel.
High Cost
There are limited alternatives when it comes to urgent situations, such as charter aircraft, which is often costlier and may not always be available.
Low Accountability & Control
Transportation carriers are not accountable when errors or failures occur and OPOs often have no control over what happens during transportation.
Desired Impact
The aim is to transform organ transportation to set a new standard for medical deliveries.
Through these strategies, streamlining organ transportation and setting a precedent for the future of medical deliveries. With faster transport times and reduced risks, more lives can be saved.
Solution
A visionary drone organ delivery service, linking hospitals with drone stations, was created, complete with a conceptual video and a sophisticated controller interface.
We proposed an action plan for a new service that involved participating hospitals and drone stations that deliver an organ from the donor to the recipient hospital. To support this proposal we created a video to showcase what the future could look like and the main interface of the drone controller system to support different scenarios that are based on an action plan we developed through future casting and backcasting.
Drone Control System: Figma prototype
UPS: All new organ delivery system
Process
Tapestry analysis, trends and sub-trend analysis, story vignette, action plan
A tapestry analysis (technology, political, economical, social/cultural, trust/ethics, legal/regulatory, environmental) of trends and signals pointed toward the potential of drones and problems in the organ transport system. However, several challenges lay ahead: weather uncertainties, communication outages, and mechanical issues. Moreover, legal barriers, such as the need for FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approval for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations, added to the complexity.
Tapestry Analysis
Here are the key sub-trends we identified from the tapestry analysis -
Systems:
Equitable opportunity to access - organ transplants will become more accessible to all
Overhaul of the organ transplant system on a federal level.
Airspace regulations are changing to incorporate drones.
Increase in drone companies transporting medical equipment.
Technology:
Using blockchain to track the package for better security and improving post surgical care.
Improving drone capabilities (distance and safety)
AI capabilities enhance organ matching and drone communication.
Reducing organ scarcity by 3D printing organs and using organoids.
Human needs:Reduced cost of organ procurement and transplants.
A safe and fast method to deliver the organ
Improvements in public knowledge of organ donation through education.
Patients and surgeons fear a process involving drones.
Click here for detailed trend cards!
Trend Analysis
When detailing out each trend, we found that a few of them - changing airspace regulations to incorporate drones and alternatives to human organs seemed most uncertain. We created a future compass that allowed us to choose the future we wanted to work toward (1 - human organs only and drone fleets approved).
We then experimented writing design fiction using a story vignette and found that we had missed some key points like training the hospital staff to receive the organ, hospital infrastructural changes and contingency planning whilst developing the action plan.
As we developed the action plan we segregated the story into artefacts, experiences and influences. Here is the action plan we proposed through backcasting.
Future Compass
Story Vignette
Future artifacts, experiences, influencers
Action Plan
Reflections
Thoughts about the project.
Even though we used Mural for most of our presentations and check-ins, actual white boarding was the easiest way to align the team.
Our final presentation was a demonstration of the new service scenario. Acting it out and pretending it really works is the first step forward to begin working toward the imagined future.
For next futuring activity I will think about the metrics to measure impact. It is not easy to get numbers on signals and drivers.
Gallery
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