5 citizens among 16 semi-finalists in UAE Drones for Good Award

The U.A.E. Drones for Good Award, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, during the second Government Summit last February, has received wide participation with more than 300 entries, out of which 16 have qualified to compete in the semi-final stage of the Dh1 million award.
The entries underwent an accurate selection process that focused on innovation, value-addition, low cost and efficiency as the main conditions of the award. The largest number of the qualifying entries came from U.A.E. citizens, with five projects entering the semi-final stage.
The projects offer innovative solutions in the provision of services that benefit humanity, especially in areas such as health services, rescue services, traffic management, tourism, and agriculture. They have also come up with practical solutions to address environmental issues such as desertification and water shortage by providing adequate images and data. New ideas for the use of drones include mapping of buildings and fully automated paid parking systems.
Some innovative solutions in rescue services and preservation of environment included Sanad, a drone dedicated to rescue operations and other civil defence services, which was presented by Mansour Al Balushi.
Sanad can fly over large areas and conduct surveys across 5 square kilometres.
For the application of drones in Civil Defence operations, Munib Ahmed presented a project titled M 4 Drone, which enables speedy provision of services for a time period extending up to 20 to 25 minutes per trip.
Focusing on environment protection, Hassan Al Muhairi offered the use of drones in monitoring vegetation and biodiversity in the U.A.E..
Samir Bandida came up with the ‘MAB cam Birds Eye View' project that synchronises video files photographed by the drone with GPS based maps to identify all the tourist sites in the U.A.E..
Meshaal Marzouki and Saeed Alnathari from the Dubai Health Authority offered to employ drones in the provision of government services in healthcare. Their project is focused on delivery of portable medicine bags, first aid, and medical test results. It is also capable of delivering licences and health cards and transferring therapeutic packages.
Hussein Fahad offered a new and practical service in the field of infrastructure by linking drone services with public transport to create a reliable and safe network of postal parcel delivery system.
Iman Obaid Abdullah proposed a drone to monitor new construction sites.
Meanwhile, Geetha Thiagarajan's drone project is capable of finding errors in power line networks and providing the necessary maintenance support early.
Firas Nasr has designed U.A.E. Hawks, a drone equipped with sensors that can help it reach accidents sites immediately and assess the damage. The drone is useful in finding quick and practical solutions to problems associated with road accidents and traffic jams.
Abdul Rahman Mohammed came up with the innovative idea of a drone that can help draw a detailed map of a building, while Matt Karao introduced the use of drone technology in documenting the bio diversity of the U.A.E..
Daban Kishore Kumar's project offers possible use in rescue operations and fire fighting with a drone that can determine interior spaces and avoid obstacles. Khalid Amin came up with two ideas for his project; the first of which is a drone mounted on police cars capable of offering instant support. The second is a drone based on nanotechnology, which is installed on an aircraft, and can access areas where large airplanes cannot enter.
Mohammed Darwish has offered to improve paid parking service with the idea of operating drones that can make the service fully automatic.
Johanna El Housseiny's ‘AMER' drone is capable of evaluating property and ensuring accuracy of maps.
Sara Ahmed Al Maeeni's project 'DroneAid: The Next Generation Civil Defenders', aims to help rescue endangered lives by sending live data to rescuers.
The Drones for Good Award aims to harness the technology of unmanned aircraft to improve the lives of people, whether in the U.A.E. or anywhere in the world. It aims to design a legislative structure to provide services through advanced technology such as unmanned aircraft in the areas of serving humanity.