Lord Norman Foster, the British architect who has built iconic buildings like the Gherkin in London, is building the world’s first “droneports” in Rwanda, the Telegraph reports.
The goal is to transport urgent medical supplies and electronic parts to remote parts of the East African country via unmanned flying vehicles or drones.
“There will be about 2.2 billion people in Africa by 2050, or 1 in 4 inhabitants of the planet will be African. How can their infrastructure even think about keeping up with this expansion?” Lord Foster told the Telegraph.
The solution is clear: cargo drone routes have value wherever roads are limited. “Only a third of Africans live within 2km of an all-season road,” Lord Foster said. There are currently no continental motorways, almost no tunnels, and not enough bridges that can reach people living in far-flung areas of the continent.
Each droneport will operate two parallel networks of drones, which are being designed by engineers at Afrotech, EPFL and Imperial College London.
The Redline drones will have a wingspan of 3m and can deliver medical and emergency supplies weighing up to 10 kilograms, such as 20 adult blood transfusions or vaccines and drugs.
The commercial Blueline drones can deliver heavier equipment, electronics and e-commerce items weighing up to 100 kilograms.
It is estimated that drones flying from the port will be able to cover 44 % of Rwanda.
