You may not have seen them yet, but if you look closely, drones are here. They’re everywhere. And it’s just the beginning. While the military has been using drones since the 1970s, it was arguably Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ December 2013 announcement of his company’s plan to offer 30 minute product deliveries via drones that brought them to the mainstream. Whether or not such a delivery service pans out is less important than the buzz (no pun intended) it created – as a kickstart for the drone industry.

Amazon’s PrimeAir delivery drone

Speaking of kickstart, one of our newest customers – the Torquing Group – has incorporated our xPico Wi-Fi into its latest upcoming product launch: The ZANO drone. This new autonomous, intelligent, swarming nano drone takes selfies to a new height – enabling consumers to capture HD photos and video – all in a handheld form factor.

Product delivery and selfies aren’t the only reason to get excited about drones. The Airforce has been promoting its latest Bugbot Nano drone – one in a line of insect drones being explored by military and private sector companies alike.

As a provider of smart IoT solutions for the medical industry (among other verticals), we’re even more excited about the use of drones to save lives. In October of 2014, the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology announced that graduate student Alec Momont had developed a prototype drone that delivers a defibrillator to a heart attack victim. To address the reality that the victim’s chance of survival decreases dramatically with each passing minute, this “ambulance drone” is guided by GPS to a mobile phone location within 4.6 square miles in under a minute. Once there, the drone uses live streaming audio and video to allow emergency personnel to provide instructions on how to use the defibrillator correctly, and transmit the patient’s vital signs. With more than 600,000 deaths in the U.S. alone from heart disease, medical emergency drones would be a welcome solution.

Example of an ambulance drone delivering a defibrillator to a patient in need of urgent care. (Image Credit: Alec Momont and Delft University of Technology)

If you’re heading to CES 2015 in Las Vegas next month, be sure to check us out – we’ll be partnering with Torquing Group to unveil the ZANO drone – a perfect example of how Lantronix’ smart connectivity and mobility solutions are enabling the Internet of Things.