Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Sensyn Robotics, a Tokyo-based drone firm, has collaborated with Sarabetsu village in southeastern Hokkaido on a series of tests to measure the usefulness of drones in a number of disaster relief scenarios.
For these tests, the Sensyn Drone Hub was employed, which features automatic takeoff and landing, automatic charging, and automatic data transfer. It is designed to minimize the need for workers to intervene at each stage of the process.
An initial experiment presented a disaster scenario in which a video feed through the drones linked an operational base in Tokyo with the Sarabetsu Village Office and the simulated disaster site.
The Sarabetsu Fire Department chief was impressed, commenting, “It can be used to form an initial assessment to determine how many emergency vehicles we need to prepare for local residents in the event of a disaster.”
The video quality was found to be sufficient to the task at hand.
Another disaster scenario involved river flooding, in which it was found that a 3D map could be created of the affected area in about half a day. This might be used in the future to help trapped residents find the best escape routes or to decide the best evacuation areas, among other things.
Takeshi Nishiyama, the mayor of Sarabetsu village, commented, “We believe this will be effective in promoting safe and secure living in preparation for disasters, anticipating damage, and formulating countermeasures.”
Sarabetsu village aims to participate in the “Super City” concept, in line with legislation that passed the national legislature in May 2020. Under this program, some local municipalities will participate in schemes to construct data-linking platforms for autonomous driving, cashless payments, telemedicine, and other services.
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