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What did a drone just deliver for the first time?

Answer: A live human kidney.

The historic flight occurred April 19 at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. A 44-year-old female patient at the university’s Medical Center underwent a successful kidney transplant after the organ was delivered from 2.8 miles away via drone.

The drone flew autonomously, with a human operator stationed on the ground to take over wirelessly if necessary. Onboard the aircraft, the kidney was contained inside a Human Organ Monitoring and Quality Assurance Apparatus for Long-Distance Travel (HOMAL). The HOMAL monitors and regulates its internal temperature, as well as tracking barometric pressure, altitude, amount of vibration and GPS coordinates while in flight. It transmits all of this data in real time to the surgical team’s smartphones, so they can track the organ’s progress and make sure that it hasn’t been damaged.

“As a result of the outstanding collaboration among surgeons, engineers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), organ procurement specialists, pilots, nurses, and, ultimately, the patient, we were able to make a pioneering breakthrough in transplantation,” said project leader Joseph Scalea, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.



Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.