Drones Will Modernize the Healthcare Industry, Says Stampede President Kevin Kelly

The drone revolution that’s sweeping the globe is revolutionizing every commercial market and the healthcare industry is no exception, asserts Kevin Kelly, President & COO of Stampede, North America’s leading provider of ProAV solutions. With high-speed capabilities and the latest telecommunication technology, drones have the capacity to help save lives on an unprecedented scale, modernizing how emergency situations are handled in both individual and community-wide cases. 

“The healthcare industry is under pressure to modernize and update just about every area of its operations, from the delivery of new treatment protocols to record management to assisting in case-by-case emergency situations,” Kelly said. “Drones will play a major role in modernizing healthcare in ways that we are just starting to understand.”

Drones are already being tested in the medical field with the delivery of vaccines, medications and supplies to remote locations. Matternet, a smart drone transportation manufacturer, conducted its first field trials in Haiti by successfully delivering small packages to a camp devastated by the 2010 earthquake that brought the country to its knees. “This one instance proved that drones have significant implications in the delivery of medicine,” Kelly said. “When road vehicles cannot reach a devastated area, drones can be used to bring medicine and supplies to people in need.”  

Global drone use in the medical field is spreading. According to Quartz, the World Health Organization and the government of Bhutan teamed up with Matternet this year to build a network of low-cost quadcopters to connect the country’s main hospitals with rural communities. “With only .3 physicians per 1,000 people, healthcare is a serious problem for the Bhutanese population,” Kelly said. “Matternet’s quadcopters can carry loads of up to four pounds across 20 km at a time, which makes a substantial difference in delivering medicine to the community.”

Drones have also been tested for use in individual emergency situations. In the Netherlands, Alec Momont, an engineering student at TU Delft in Delft, designed an “ambulance drone” specifically developed to combat the high mortality rate of cardiac arrest victims. According to Slate, the “ambulance drone” is capable of traveling at speeds up to 60 mph, and is fully equipped with an on-board camera, which allows a remote operator to talk to a victim and provide emergency instructions to whoever is with the victim on the ground. “According to Momont, a drone’s speedy response time and on-scene assistance capabilities could increase cardiac arrest survival rates to more than 80 percent,” Kelly emphasized. “And that’s a significant number.”

While the FAA has not yet extensively tested medical drone use in the United States, they are in the process of developing standards and guidelines for the safe and legal use of drones in commercial applications, in ways that do not violate an individual’s right to privacy, says Kelly.

“When approved, drones will have the ability to serve as life-saving and life-giving resource for a healthcare industry increasingly challenged to find new, safe, and cost-effective ways to deliver much needed medicine to remote locations, gather data needed to assist medical personnel in an unfolding crisis, and provide information to an individual trying to assist someone in need,” Kelly said. “In a very real way, drones are just what the doctor ordered to help modernize the global healthcare industry.” 

Stampede and Vidyo Introduce Drone-Based Video Conferencing Solution at InfoComm 2015

Demonstrating its singular ability to take video conferencing to a whole new level of effectiveness for a wide variety of customers involved in law enforcement, security, first responders, and emergency communications, Stampede (www.stampedeglobal.com), North America’s leading provider of custom configured ProAV solutions, today announced it was teaming up with Vidyo, Inc. (www.vidyo.com), a leader in visual communications and collaboration, to introduce drone-based video conferencing at InfoComm 2015. See a video of the drone in action. 

According to Stampede President & COO Kevin Kelly, Stampede will introduce a single integrated solution that combines drones; Vidyo software; video management systems, displays, and connectivity; consulting services; and training into a single one-stop-shop solution for ProAV dealers.  “According to a recent survey of risk managers conducted by Munich RE, in fewer than five years the use of drones could become common practice for 40 percent of all businesses, which means that drone-based video conferencing is going to emerge as an important new element in video communications,” Kelly said today.  “Drones connected to Vidyo endpoint software will now be able to feed live images into a video conference, providing up-to-the-minute video content for participants who need real-time information during a fast changing event or situation.”

Underscoring the readiness of the market to accept drone based video conferencing Eran Westman, CEO of Vidyo, noted that, “The VidyoWorksTM software platform affords the flexibility to integrate with off-the-shelf video-enabled devices like drones, medical telemetry equipment, and smart glasses, and connect quality video streams over wireless Internet connections with a diverse set of endpoints, from handheld mobile devices in the field to multiscreen situation rooms for command and control.  Vidyo integrated with drones is already being used today by a national fire brigade. We are also working closely with police, EMTs, emergency responders, and internal communications agencies to help them enhance their current video conferencing capabilities with live images from drones that have an analog or digital video out from their base station, serving as the camera for Vidyo endpoint software.  We believe the Stampede offering using Vidyo technology will help to drive the demand for drone based video conferencing throughout North America from the very same type of customers.”

The two companies will be showcasing the new solution with a demonstration and presentation at InfoComm 2015. It will be exhibited and demonstrated by Stampede and Vidyo video conference experts at both the Stampede booth on the main show floor (#1759) and the Stampede booth located with in the Stampede-Unmanned Vehicle University sponsored Drone Pavilion (#7042).  

“Incorporating drone fed video and images into a video conferencing system represents the next great advance in the functional utility of the entire video conferencing platform,” Kelly stressed today.  “Stampede is proud to partner with Vidyo to make this solution available to customers throughout North America.”

Earn Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificates From Home — Thanks to Unmanned Vehicle University's Four-Week Program

If you’re interested in becoming certified to pilot or operate an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, but can’t take the time away from a full time job to do so, you now have a way to do both — thanks to Unmanned Vehicle University’s (www.uxvuniversity.com) two week Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program. UVU is showcasing all of the certification opportunities at Unmanned Systems 2015 in the Georgia World Congress Center at booth #1508. 

According to John Minor, Provost of the Phoenix, Arizona-based university, which is the only university in the world licensed to offer graduate degree programs in Unmanned Systems Engineering, students can take the three-phase Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program from home without jeopardizing their current full-time jobs. “Now you can prepare for a lifetime career as a drone pilot without having to quit your current job to do so,” Minor said today. Minor further emphasized, “It’s been estimated that the rapid adoption of drones in a wide variety of commercial markets is going to create more than 100,000 jobs and have an $82-billion economic impact over the next ten years — but to have a career in this exciting new industry you have to be certified to operate a drone safely and effectively.” 

No college degree or prior experience is required to participate in the university’s program.  The Drone/UAV Pilot Training Program consists of three phases.  Phases one and two are conducted at home using a flight simulator and taking online academics.  Phase three is conducted by one of the university’s expert flight instructors at one of the university’s flight schools located around the country.  At the end of the program, successful students will receive the university’s UAV Pilot Certificate showing they have completed 10 hours of simulator training, 16 hours of ground school, and 16 hours of flight training for a total of 42 hours of comprehensive operator training.  

“Once students complete the enrollment process, they are assigned log-in instructions for the ground school and we ship a simulator to their residence," Minor explained. "The entire program can be completed in a little over two weeks, with two weeks of home study and two days of intensive flight training."

Once students have earned their Pilot/Operators Certificate they can get started on a life-long career that offers positions paying as much as $275,000 per-year in a wide variety of commercial markets that include Delivery and fulfillment, Logistics, Security and Law Enforcement, First Responders, Wildfire Management, Search and Rescue, News Gathering, Photography, Film and Television Production, Oil, Gas and Mineral Exploration, Disaster Relief, Live Event Production, Agriculture, and Real Estate.  And these just top the list of an ever-growing number of commercial markets. “As FAA regulations become finalized, and they will, you are going to see drones incorporated into just about every industry known to man,” Minor asserted.  “Drones reduce risk, save money, and dramatically increase the productivity of every field they are used in.”

The cost of Unmanned Vehicle University’s Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program is $3,500.  In addition, if you take one of Unmanned Vehicle University’s seminars held around the country, you will also get a free drone. For more information, visit UVU at Unmanned Systems 2015 in the Georgia World Congress Center at booth #1508, or contact Josh Roetzer at +1 (716) 866-2827 or jroetzer@uxvuniversity.com.

Drones Offer Pro AV Dealers an Unprecedented New Revenue Opportunity as Surveillance Applications Take Off

Drones are becoming increasingly important in assisting first responders and law enforcement officials in the area of surveillance, according to Stampede President & COO Kevin Kelly, who today asserted that this increase in drone usage offers ProAV dealers an unprecedented new opportunity in security, live event, and law enforcement surveillance applications.

“It should come as no surprise that one of the most immediate and promising applications of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, is in the area of surveillance,” Kelly said. “Law enforcement officers, first responders, live event producers — anyone engaged in the critically important tasks of security and surveillance are quickly understanding the benefits of drones, and the FAA is beginning to allow their use for these applications.” 

Just last month, according to Kelly, the Michigan State Police department became the first police force in the nation to receive statewide authorization by the FAA to use drones for law enforcement purposes. After reviewing the department’s safety and program procedures, the FAA approved the use of an unmanned aircraft to photograph crash sites, search for lost people, inspect natural disasters and conduct surveillance. 

“All of these applications are casebook examples of how an exciting new technology like drones can be immediately incorporated by ProAV dealers into their product mix,” Kelly added.  “Our industry, collectively, has the dealer network with the expertise in the video category and the vertical market end-user relationships required to seamlessly integrate drones into meaningful solutions that save time, money and in some cases, lives." 

According to Kelly, two issues have stood in the way of making the use of drones a practical reality for customers who need and rely upon cost-effective surveillance solutions in their day-to- day life — concerns about privacy and the availability of educational resources to train drone operators.  “In my opinion, both of these concerns can now be addressed in a way that allows for this remarkable new technology to quickly become a mainstream part of 21st century surveillance,” Kelly commented. 

The FAA has made it very clear that it is in the process of developing standards and guidelines for the safe and legal use of drones in commercial applications, in ways that do not violate an individual’s right to privacy. The guiding principle in this process is to make sure that drones are used, not in a broad general way, but rather in an controlled environment where the owner/operator would have a right to have a security professional present. “The altitude limit of 500 feet further ensures that drones used for surveillance will not be used to monitor the activities of the at large general population,” Kelly added. 

Secondly, Kelly said, there is now a very clear path forward for ProAV dealers seeking to offer their drone customers a complete solution.  “Thanks to a strategic alliance Stampede has formed with Unmanned Vehicle University (www.uxvuniversity.com) ProAV dealers will now be able to purchase and resell to their customers specific certified courses that will enable them to operate drones in a safe and sanctioned way,” he added. 

Unmanned Vehicle University is now designing dedicated manufacturer based product training that is customized to show vertical market specific dealers how to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into their product offerings to customers.  Finally, there is a way to educate dealers on how to integrate drones into their commercial offering and then provide the necessary training to both their employees on the category and their customers on how to operate the drones, providing a complete turnkey solution.  What’s more, the dealers will profit when they resell UVU’s unique training courses.  

“The size commercial drone market will grow to be 12% of the $98-billion in cumulative global spending on aerial drones over the next decade,” Kelly added. “This partnership with UVU will help our customers to be ready to go when these licensing and training regulations are finalized. It will also allow our dealers to offer UVU’s training courses to their end-users as part of their camera drone offering and profit on every class they sell.”

Earn Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificates From Home — Thanks to Unmanned Vehicle University's Four-Week Program

If you’re interested in becoming certified to pilot or operate an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, but can’t take the time away from a full time job to do so, you now have a way to do both — thanks to Unmanned Vehicle University’s (www.uxvuniversity.com) two week Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program.

According to John Minor, Provost of the Phoenix, Arizona based university, which is the only university in the world licensed to offer graduate degree programs in Unmanned Systems Engineering, students can take the three-phase Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program from home without jeopardizing their current full-time jobs.  “Now you can prepare for a lifetime career as a drone pilot without having to quit your current job to do so,” Minor said today. Minor further emphasized “It’s been estimated that the rapid adoption of drones in a wide variety of commercial markets is going to create more than 100,000 jobs and have an $82-billion economic impact over the next ten years — but to have a career in this exciting new industry you have to be certified to operate a drone safely and effectively.”

No college degree or prior experience is required to participate in the university’s program.  The Drone/UAV Pilot Training Program consists of three phases.  Phases one and two are conducted at home using a flight simulator and taking online academics.  Phase three is conducted by one of the university’s expert flight instructors at one of the university’s flight schools located around the country.  At the end of the program, successful students will receive the university’s UAV Pilot Certificate showing they have completed 10 hours of simulator training, 16 hours of ground school, and 16 hours of flight training for a total of 42 hours of comprehensive operator training.   

“Once students complete the enrollment process, they are assigned log-in instructions for the ground school and we ship a simulator to their residence.  The entire program can be completed in a little over two weeks, with two weeks of home study and two days of intensive flight training.”

Once students have earned their Pilot/Operators Certificate they can get started on a life-long career that offers positions paying as much as $275,000 per-year in a wide variety of commercial markets that include Delivery and fulfillment, Logistics, Security and Law Enforcement, First Responders, Wildfire Management, Search and Rescue, News Gathering, Photography, Film and Television Production, Oil, Gas and Mineral Exploration, Disaster Relief, Live Event Production, Agriculture, and Real Estate.  And these just top the list of an ever growing number of commercial markets.  “As FAA regulations become finalized, and they will, you are going to see drones incorporated into just about every industry known to man,” Minor asserted.  “Drones reduce risk, save money, and dramatically increase the productivity of every field they are used in.”

The cost of Unmanned Vehicle University’s Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program is $3500.  In addition, if you take one of Unmanned Vehicle University’s seminars held around the country, you will also get a free drone.  For more information contact Josh Roetzer at +1 (716) 866-2827 or jroetzer@uxvuniversity.com.