The Los Angeles County Fire Department is set to get some help in search and rescue missions from a 3D-printed device created by two high school students.
Raul Castrellon, the president of Palos Verdes High School's robotics team, and Lawrence Goo, a student at Peninsula High School, designed the machine to work with a quadcopter and be able to carry tools and supplies needed to help people who needed emergency services, according to 3DPrint.com.
Thomas Ewald, Assistant Interim Chief for the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, has shown his support for the project, saying the device needs to be dependable and easy to use for it to be successful. He added that the machine would have to work well with other operations in the fire department.
"I look forward to working with the students in the months ahead to give them feedback as they move forward. Innovations such as this have the potential to save lives and reduce property loss," Ewald says.
Aerospace and electronics engineer Ted Vegvari, the president of PVNet, served as a mentor for Castrellon and Goo and says he hopes the project will inspire other students to give 3D printing new purposes, 3DPrint.com reported.
"Even if they don't use this actual model, we are designing it with the hope that it will be good enough to be used for what it's intended to do," Vegvari said. "We want to create something to build on- something which will gain momentum for other kids to pursue. We want to build awareness that youth can contribute and get involved with community emergency operations."
The Youth Design and 3D Print Search and Rescue UAV has also received sponsorship from 3D-Printing companies MatterHackers and Airwolf 3D, but Vegvari says the team needs more funding to make improvements to the drone. The goal is to raise about $8,000 by February and have the device up and running for the LA County Fire Department in June 2015.
