26 June 2024

Researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder Aerospace Engineering Department are seeking to merge drone tech and artificial intelligence to provide critical data to search and rescue operations.

Development trials are already in progress.

The school's Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department is collaborating with the Boulder Emergency Squad to assess how much AI-enabled drones can reduce the number of required rescue personnel, aid multitasking, analyze data, and find missing persons faster. 

"What we're doing with this research is giving tools to rescuers to control drones to get that initial perspective, and then allowing them to also do other things at the same time," says Hunter Ray, an aerospace engineering doctoral student at CU Boulder. 

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