Grant aims to deliver medical supplies by drone
UND’s participation with Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town, N.D., aims to improve lives while building future careers
Imagine being home during inclement weather, urgently needing medication, and the nearest health care facility happens to be more than an hour away.
It’s a daunting prospect, and one that some members of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation regularly face. Recent federal funding, secured by the MHA Nation, which is working collaboratively with the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, UND and several industry partners, may provide a solution to that situation; one which comes in the form of medicine and other supplies being delivered by a drone.
On July 17-18, NHS College and UND hosted an event for researchers working on the MHA Nation Drone Project, followed by the MHA Nation Drone Camp, for members of the Boys and Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes. The event took place at Earth Lodge Village, located in New Town, N.D.
The events were supported by a U.S. Department of Transportation grant through its Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation Grants program. MHA Nation received Stage 1 funding of nearly $2 million to develop the needed infrastructure supporting tribal-to-federal government relationships, with the goal of improving basic needs through the use of autonomous systems.
Under the grant, MHA Nation will work with its partners to accomplish a variety of goals, including a community assessment of use cases for drones, as well as expanding workforce development in collaboration with the NHS College and the Boys and Girls Club of the TAT, among others. Stage 1 grant recipients are eligible to advance to Stage 2 of the grant program, which would make available up to $15 million in additional funding.
Kerry Hartman, academic dean for NHS College, welcomed the wide participation in the MHA Nation Drone Camp.
“On behalf of the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, we thank UND and all their partners who ensured that the summer 2024 Drone Camp at the Earth Lodge Village was successful,” Hartman said. “We were pleased to host this event as part of our College Culture and Science Camp and to host the Boys and Girls Club of TAT. Local youth learned how to begin to fly and operate drones safely and to understand their capabilities.”
Given the expansive area of the MHA Nation’s 988,000 acres, it is easy to understand the need to use drones to improve the quality of life for residents there. The collaborators are looking to build upon previous work to prioritize using drones to deliver medical supplies between the towns of Twin Buttes, and New Town (where Elbowoods Memorial Health Center, MHA Nation’s full-service clinic, is located), which is a 98-mile drive on two-lane highways.
Organizers said it is also important to help the young people of the MHA Nation take an interest in STEM careers.
“I was pleased to assist in organizing this fun event,” said Thomasine Heitkamp, research developer at UND, and also principal investigator of the SMART Grant. “UND hosted three interactive stations on flying drones for up to 70 youth of the MHA Nation. The event was held on the beautiful grounds of the Earth Lodge Village in New Town, in partnership with Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College and the Boys and Girls Club of TAT.”
There, to look in on all that was happening (and the smiling faces of young people getting to use drones for the first time) was Stan Caldwell, director of the U.S. DOT SMART Grant program. Caldwell told KFYR-TV that drones can be helpful in emergency situations, or when people need routine medical care. The key priority, he said, is putting in place a project to deliver medicines to rural areas.
Heitkamp said Caldwell’s attendance of the event gave him a firsthand look at efforts to engage youth there, to help ensure the MHA Nation has the future capacity to deliver medications and supplies by drone, as “they are the pilots of the future.”
And those future pilots received important flying lessons, while having some fun in the process. In one activity, they flew drones through an obstacle course, while at another, they used a drone’s downwash to direct the rolling of Ping-Pong balls in a simulated “Livestock Herding” event. At yet another activity, they practiced being “mission controllers” who had to talk the pilots onto a target, then give them permission to land.
Mark Askelson, UND associate vice president of National Security, and director of the Research Institute for Autonomous Systems, said helping put on the drone camp was a rewarding experience.
“The recent event showed tremendous community engagement, highlighted the numerous ways in which expanded drone operations would benefit MHA Nation, and helped us progress toward realizing emerging technologies to serve the people of MHA Nation,” Askelson said.
He continued: “The event was a team effort, and RIAS was honored to be a part of it, including engaging the youth in drone operations and illustrating use cases. RIAS is so thankful for the partnership on this project, and I am thankful for all the hard work of the team.”
UND had a number of team members assisting at the drone camp, including Thomasine Heitkamp, UND research developer; Zachary Reeder and Amanda Brandt with RIAS; Leslie Martin, Tanner Yackley, Kelly Ketola and Isabella Oliver with UND Aerospace. Also attending from UND were Scott Snyder, vice president for Research & Economic Development, Emily Hoffman and Naomi Hansen with the Research & Economic Development division and David Flynn, professor of Economics & Finance, who is serving as the MHA Drone Project’s economist.
Vendors in attendance included Airspace Link, Valkyrie, Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Detect, and Thales.
