A drone developed by a team of students in the Netherlands has been deployed at Maxima Medisch Centrum, helping to move objects for the less mobile and playing tic-tac-toe with children who communicate with the drone through hand gestures.
Blue Jay, founded in 2015 by a group of students, was the result of the the university’s desire to show the significance of technology to the public.
The drone uses VLC Technology from Philips Lighting, enabling it to pinpoint its location and navigate and act autonomously. This technology enables ceiling lights to act like an indoor GPS and transmit their location through a modulation of the light which is imperceptible to the human eye, but detectable by smart devices such as drones. The wireless operation between the drone and its ground station is made possible by communication technology from NXP.
In 2016 Blue Jay developed the world’s first Drone Cafe, the drones took orders and served drinks. Blue Jay’s vision is a work where drones live in people’s homes, understand them and help them with daily tasks.
