Forbes: UC telehealth drone can make house calls

A multidisciplinary team of researchers is engineering new technology

Telehealth medicine has become increasingly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors and patients turned to virtual appointments as a means to communicate more safely.

Forbes highlighted research by a multidisciplinary team of inventors at the University of Cincinnati that is aiming to improve the technology to make these virtual interactions more meaningful.

Inventors Victoria Wangia-Anderson, Manish Kumar, Seung-Yeon Lee and Debi Sampsel from three colleges at UC collaborated to develop a semi-autonomous drone that can be dispatched to people’s homes. The drones are big enough to carry medicine or medical supplies but small enough to maneuver the tight confines of a home using navigational algorithms developed by UC engineers.

Still in development, the drone has cameras and a display screen so patients can talk to health care professionals from the comfort of their home. The prototype carries a waterproof box the size of a small first-aid kit to deliver medical supplies or collect self-administered lab tests.

The researchers in UC’s College of Nursing, College of Allied Health Sciences and College of Engineering and Applied Science secured a UC Office of Research grant to develop a prototype to test the feasibility of dispatching a telehealth care delivery drone to a patient's home to provide health assessments or medical interventions.

Read the Forbes article.

Featured image at top: Seung-Yeon Lee, an associate professor of nutrition sciences in UC's College of Allied Health Sciences, sits across from a telehealth drone that allows patients to talk face-to-face to health care professionals from the comfort of their home. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand

UC student James (Zach) Wells operated the Drone as he flew it to the front door of Dr. Sampsel home in West Chester. UC/ Joseph Fuqua II

UC's prototype telehealth drone. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand

Related Stories

1

First cohort of Doctor of Nursing Practice in public health...

April 4, 2025

In a couple of weeks, University of Cincinnati (UC) students will celebrate a meaningful achievement as they graduate across various fields, ready to make significant contributions in their respective professions. Among them is the UC College of Nursing’s first cohort of Doctor of Nursing Practice-prepared public health nurses, who will begin a new professional chapter leading efforts to improve health outcomes, reduce disparities and advocate for healthier communities.

2

OTR mural celebrates UC alumni success

April 4, 2025

The UC Alumni Association, UCAA, will mark its annual Alumni Celebration during its upcoming Alumni Week, April 7-13, with a community art project commemorating this year’s slate of alumni honorees receiving the organization’s top awards.

3

UC students combine engineering and design experience

April 3, 2025

At the University of Cincinnati, the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning hosted a design competition with HAAG-Streit USA, where students were tasked with designing an ophthalmology workstation that is accessible and able to be incorporated into retail settings. Caleb Loayza, a mechanical engineering student at the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and Guy Mueller, an industrial design student, combined their expertise and took home first place.

Debug Query for this