São João da Madeira begins testing the transport of medicines by drone

According to Lusa the founder and executive director of the said firm of the district of Aveiro and Metropolitan Area of Porto, this pilot project will begin by involving only the Pharmacy Ferraz, but, before the end of the 30 days of the experience, it will also extend to the Pharmacy of the City.

The operation may also cover other types of commercial establishments, if they express an interest in joining the project and make available for this purpose “useful products to the Sanjotec community”, consisting of “hundreds of workers” in several buildings.

“ At this stage, our drones will deliver within two kilometres and transport products weighing up to 500 grams ", said Eduardo Mendes. “But we have drones that already make longer distances for other customers and we are preparing equipment that can carry up to seven kilos,” he added.

Founded in 2015 and installed at Sanjotec since 2024, Connect Robotics says that the pilot project to be developed in São João da Madeira will focus on non-prescription drugs, cosmetic and well-being articles, and small items of usual sale in pharmacies, even because the great objective of the experience is to analyze the final consumer's reception.

“ Transport itself is already well tested because only with the Champalimaud Foundation, for example, we have already made about 6,000 deliveries in two years ", said Eduardo Mendes. “The point is that this transport was always internal, among the different buildings of the institution, and now we want to test how it will be in the community in general,” he explained.

The purpose is to analyze whether the citizen adheres to this type of service, to identify what kind of concerns makes him reticent in the use of the drone, to verify what orders he is willing to receive for that life, to follow the arrival of the drone in the indicated time window, etc.

The transport itself will be done with autonomous navigation technology that prevents collisions and ensures “high precision landing”, and during the pilot project there will be no charge of any delivery fee to the final consumer.

Eduardo Mendes thus hopes to “transform the way in which deliveries of proximity are carried out and ensure a faster, more efficient and sustainable service”, in which he recognized several advantages for the final consumer, including “greater convenience, productivity gains, reduced travel and a lower environmental footprint”.

Developing autonomous drone delivery systems, in 2017 Connect Robotis was the first company to receive the approval of the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority for BVLOS flights (‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’, that is, beyond the line of view) and later became the first to obtain authorisation for flights up to 50 kilometres beyond that visual limit.

“ At the moment, we already have generic authorization for the entire national territory ", highlighted.

In addition to creating drone transport systems, the company also produces its own unmanned air vehicles and has been strengthening its monitoring work and is able to inspect resources scattered across vast geographical areas, such as high voltage lines, pipelines, motorways and viaducts.