The link hosted its second installment of the Innovation Symposium on Jan. 29. The theme of the night was Demo Days, in which three presenters shared how their companies are using drones to solve real world problems.
The first presenter was Gordon Folkes, founder and CEO of Archer First Response Systems (FRS). Archer FRS is a 911-integrated emergency drone delivery company that transports time-sensitive medical devices and supplies. Emergencies like sudden cardiac arrest, overdoses and car accidents stand to benefit the most from a drone’s ability to quickly fly over infrastructure, traffic and other delays, directly to 911 callers in need. Archer’s average response time is under three minutes.
When the call comes into 911, the dispatcher simply requests a drone deployment and that sends the location of the caller to Archer. Then, the map instantly shows where the nearest delivery site is to the caller. Once the drone gets to its delivery location, it will lower the medical supplies down on a tether from 200 feet in the air. The drones always deliver to easily accessible locations such as driveways, residential roads, golf courses or public parks. Folkes said the purpose of these drones is to reduce response times, improve outcomes and save more lives.
The second presenter was Bob Dahlstrom, founder and CEO of Apellix. Apellix is a company that offers AI-powered drones for power washing, spray painting, military asset decontamination and non-destructive testing.
The power washing drones are safer and more cost effective than traditional methods that require scaffolding.
Apellix has also partnered with the U.S. Department of Defense to create CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) decontamination drones. These AI-powered systems are designed to operate in the most hazardous environments. Their purpose is to neutralize chemical and biological threats with speed, precisions and no human exposure.
Apellix is the second company Dahlstrom has started, and he said being an entrepreneur is not easy. “It’s a hard road, but it’s also a rewarding one,” he said.
The last presenter was Carl Miller, the chief operating officer at Blue Vigil. Blue Vigil was founded in 2015 and in 2022 they expanded their technology to address a long-ignored safety problem. Nighttime construction sites are very dangerous for several reasons with the biggest one being little to no visibility. Blue Vigil recognized this and developed the AL 1000 Portable Light, which is a better alternative to traditional construction light towers used at night. Miller said that the AL 1000 is superior because it produces 8,000 square feet of usable light that illuminates the job sight from above, eliminating dangerous shadows and glare.
