Drones are everywhere these days. In the last few years, when the waves are pumping, crowded lineups all over the world now have the added annoyance of a hideous buzzing noise. Inevitably, there’s some guy on a cliff looking down on his drone, filming a bunch of people flailing around.
But there is an upside to them–quite a few, actually–but this one in particular is a surprise… that it hasn’t been thought of already. A Chilean company started using them to assist lifeguards in assisting swimmers. According to the Associated Press, the drones are fitted with a float, camera, microphones, and a speaker, so that a lifeguard can drop the float, see what happens, and yell at the swimmer to hold on to it from the beach, instead of right in their face. Then, once the swimmer isn’t going to drown anymore, the lifeguard swims out and helps them in. Genius!
The drones are still in the testing stage on the beaches of Algarrobo, in Chile.
