Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse has opened a new hub for its burgeoning drone operations. The new facility will enable faster transport of specimens, medications, blood products and other time sensitive materials.
Drones are already transporting medications from Upstate’s downtown campus to its Community Hospital campus four miles away in just three minutes, but a new hub downtown will allow the expansion of the program.
"We're going to start to integrate more artificial intelligence to understand what is the best route, how to manage weather, whether or not you need ground transportation to supplement the air transport, "said Upstate CEO Robert Corona. "Anybody can buy the drones, but the sophistication of running the operation, that's really where we're focusing."
Corona said speed is the key to using drones versus couriers driving on busy roads. The goal is to replace ground transportation with the quicker drones.
"We hope to be using ground transportation minimally," he said. "Fly the drones as much as possible. Use the ground transportation as backup."
And quicker results can, for example, help a brain surgeon decide what to do next during surgery.
"So they take a biopsy of the brain, it has to be sent to the neuropathologist," Corona said. "That patient's skull is open, they're under anesthesia, and they're waiting for the results. So if you can get the results done more quickly, you get to the patient more quickly."
Causey Aviation Unmanned has been working with Upstate on what officials believe is the most advanced medical drone program in the country. CEO Jeff Causey says the hub will allow operators to more easily lean into what is still a new technology with more advancements on the way.
"They are still new technology that will be perfected over time," Causey said. "So this is kind of like an iPhone 3. It was transformational, but it’s not the last iPhone we’re going to have."
Upstate's drone program first began in 2023, delivering medications from Upstate's downtown pharmacy to patients at Community Hospital.
