DARPA, the US military's experimental technology arm, has developed a self-driving cardboard drone to transport medical supplies including vaccines to remote areas. The disposable drone can fly twice the distance of any fixed-range aircraft. With no motor on board, it carries a small computer and sensors to adjust the aircraft's control and determine its landing position.
The drone is expected to be used in emergencies to reach areas with unreliable road conditions or that are under quarantine and in need of medical supplies. An alternative to expensive and battery-dependent drones, DARPA's autonomous drone flies like a glider and needs to be launched from a moving aircraft since it does not have a motor. But it does not require a parachute while being dropped. The paper drone, designed by Otherlab, flies on its and exactly to the location it's programmed for.
The research and development of the paper aircraft was funded by DARPA's ICARUS (Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems) program, which aims to develop "vanishing" aircraft that "can make precise deliveries of critical supplies and vaporize into thin air."
Another reason behind making the drones battery-less is the extra space. As Star Simpson, an aeronautics research engineer at Otherlab said, the space can be used to pack more onto the drone and thus, supply more relief.
Otherlab is also working on a biodegradable drone in collaboration with a biology research firm that is based on mushrooms, said Simpson.
ICARUS is part of a larger initiative called "Vanishing Programmable Resources" initiative, which funds research into hardware that can dissolve and become unusable when triggered.