WEBVTT - Making Medical Deliveries by Drone is Solvable 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:24.236 Pushkin. This is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg. You know, much 0:00:24.316 --> 0:00:27.796 like using ride sharing. They'll get a text when it's saying, hey, 0:00:27.876 --> 0:00:29.996 the product's one minute away, please step outside. It's going 0:00:30.036 --> 0:00:34.116 to be delivered in your mailbox. Drone delivery items falling 0:00:34.156 --> 0:00:36.676 from the sky right to your mailbox with just the 0:00:36.716 --> 0:00:40.916 push of a button. Are you excited nervous? They don't 0:00:40.916 --> 0:00:44.116 call them drones, they just call them sky ambulances. Keller 0:00:44.196 --> 0:00:48.196 Renato runs zip Line International. To be clear, his drone 0:00:48.196 --> 0:00:51.636 delivery service isn't dropping off last minute anniversary presence or 0:00:51.756 --> 0:00:55.996 late night takeout. Zip Line is focused on delivering medical supplies. 0:00:56.996 --> 0:01:00.436 According to the WHO, over five million kids under the 0:01:00.476 --> 0:01:03.156 age of five die every year due to a lack 0:01:03.156 --> 0:01:08.116 of access to basic medical products and care. Zipline regularly 0:01:08.156 --> 0:01:13.596 delivers whole blood platelets, fresh frozen plasma, and clotting products. 0:01:14.116 --> 0:01:17.196 These kinds of medical deliveries are especially helpful in places 0:01:17.196 --> 0:01:20.836 with unreliable roads and large populations living in remote and 0:01:20.956 --> 0:01:24.836 rural areas. Today, zip line deliveries can reach just about 0:01:24.876 --> 0:01:29.316 any location across Rwanda and the entirety of Ghana, and 0:01:29.396 --> 0:01:33.596 they just started to deliver in the US so North 0:01:33.596 --> 0:01:36.596 Carolina is learning from Rwanda. Is that how you would 0:01:36.676 --> 0:01:41.276 characterize it? During this pandemic, the ability to take medical 0:01:41.316 --> 0:01:44.916 appointments online has been a lifesaver, keeping us safely away 0:01:44.996 --> 0:01:48.316 from enclosed office spaces and out of hospitals that are 0:01:48.356 --> 0:01:52.676 overcrowded with COVID nineteen emergencies. Zip Line sees the work 0:01:52.756 --> 0:01:55.476 they do as the next step in a remote medical 0:01:55.556 --> 0:01:59.356 service chain. In many ways, the logistics service, the kind 0:01:59.356 --> 0:02:01.716 of instant delivery the zipline provides, is just the other 0:02:01.756 --> 0:02:05.476 half of the telepresence. Kelornado is the CEO and founder 0:02:05.516 --> 0:02:09.276 of zip Line International. My sollable is making sure that 0:02:09.356 --> 0:02:11.836 every human on earth has access to basic medical products. 0:02:14.756 --> 0:02:18.036 My co host an Apple Bomb, spoke with Renaldo. Here's 0:02:18.036 --> 0:02:22.476 their conversation. Explain to me how it works. In other words, 0:02:22.196 --> 0:02:24.476 there's a there's a nurse who sees that she needs 0:02:24.476 --> 0:02:28.436 a particular blood product in rural Tanzania. Does she pick 0:02:28.516 --> 0:02:31.156 up a phone and call someone? Is? How does the 0:02:31.196 --> 0:02:33.956 system work? And how is it that the drones are 0:02:33.996 --> 0:02:36.236 ready to go? And you know, are they are they 0:02:36.236 --> 0:02:38.276 in some kind of medical base to start with? What 0:02:38.316 --> 0:02:40.356 does the system look like? Although there's a lot of 0:02:40.396 --> 0:02:43.756 complicated technology behind the service that we provide. The experience 0:02:43.756 --> 0:02:46.116 of the service itself is extremely simple, which is essentially 0:02:46.156 --> 0:02:48.196 a push a button on a phone, get the medical 0:02:48.236 --> 0:02:50.316 product that you need to save a patient's life delivered 0:02:50.316 --> 0:02:53.996 to your GPS coordinates. There's no training really required for 0:02:54.076 --> 0:02:58.036 nurses or doctors or health workers. They can place orders 0:02:58.156 --> 0:03:00.636 in a number of different ways, either via an online 0:03:00.676 --> 0:03:03.316 form or by calling a phone number, or also by 0:03:03.396 --> 0:03:06.996 using what'sapp. What'sapp actually winds up being an incredibly reliable 0:03:07.236 --> 0:03:10.916 kind of infrastructure in a lot of these countries, and 0:03:10.956 --> 0:03:13.836 so any nurse or doctor or health worker can place 0:03:13.876 --> 0:03:18.356 an order. All of the complexity of you know, autonomous 0:03:18.356 --> 0:03:21.156 aircraft and like getting regulatory approval and knowing how to 0:03:21.476 --> 0:03:24.436 do safety and maintenance, etc. Is kind of handled in 0:03:24.476 --> 0:03:26.956 the background. You know, they'll get a text message saying 0:03:27.236 --> 0:03:29.476 thanks for letting us know an order has been dispatched. 0:03:29.516 --> 0:03:32.676 It is twenty four minutes away. And then much like 0:03:32.876 --> 0:03:36.116 using ride sharing, they'll get a text when it's saying, hey, 0:03:36.156 --> 0:03:38.316 the products one minute away, please step outside. It's going 0:03:38.356 --> 0:03:41.036 to be delivered into your mailbox. And the runes really 0:03:41.036 --> 0:03:43.796 move fast enough to make this work. Yeah, So that 0:03:44.436 --> 0:03:47.436 you know, the simple technology, Zipline builds distribution centers and 0:03:47.476 --> 0:03:50.556 then the aircraft themselves. We employ teams of engineers and 0:03:50.596 --> 0:03:55.116 operators at each distribution center. Each distribution center can serve 0:03:55.276 --> 0:03:58.036 around twenty thousand square kilometers or something like eight thousand 0:03:58.076 --> 0:04:01.356 square miles, which is typically between two and ten million people. 0:04:01.356 --> 0:04:03.316 So for example, we cover the whole country of rwand 0:04:03.356 --> 0:04:05.796 that with two distribution centers cover the whole country of 0:04:05.796 --> 0:04:09.556 Ghana with about eight. That's where we store inventory of 0:04:09.596 --> 0:04:13.196 medical products. And then each distribution center will serve around 0:04:13.676 --> 0:04:16.596 two hundred to four hundred primary care facilities and hospitals, 0:04:16.716 --> 0:04:19.916 and each of those facilities is getting a delivery, often 0:04:20.196 --> 0:04:22.676 several times a day, sometimes several times a week, depending 0:04:22.676 --> 0:04:25.676 on the size of the facility. But essentially is just teleportation. 0:04:25.996 --> 0:04:29.116 It means that now tell it's possible to teleport products 0:04:29.156 --> 0:04:32.236 from a central place out to all these different places 0:04:32.236 --> 0:04:35.596 where patients may need something. The benefit of having a 0:04:35.636 --> 0:04:40.036 teleportation like service for national healthcare systems is that they 0:04:40.036 --> 0:04:45.116 can dramatically improve access, particularly for vulnerable populations. They can 0:04:45.196 --> 0:04:48.436 reduce waste because you're sending less stuff out to the 0:04:48.556 --> 0:04:51.156 last mile and before it's actually needed by a patient. 0:04:51.876 --> 0:04:53.836 And finally, you can actually increase the diversity of the 0:04:53.836 --> 0:04:55.876 products that are available at primary care facilities. So it 0:04:55.876 --> 0:04:58.036 makes it possible to treat patients closer where they live. 0:04:58.556 --> 0:05:00.996 And what are the finances of it? Isn't it too 0:05:00.996 --> 0:05:04.716 expensive for a country like Rwanda to have to have 0:05:04.756 --> 0:05:08.236 a drone service delivering medication when it comes to questions 0:05:08.236 --> 0:05:09.996 around the unit ac comics of what we do, that's 0:05:09.996 --> 0:05:12.836 actually one of the big advantages of delivering in this way. 0:05:13.076 --> 0:05:14.676 If you have a lot of medicine in the system 0:05:14.876 --> 0:05:18.036 and a lot of these things expire, it's very expensive, 0:05:18.516 --> 0:05:22.196 may have specific storage requirements or short shelf life. A 0:05:22.196 --> 0:05:24.396 lot of medicine gets thrown out. Millions and millions of 0:05:24.436 --> 0:05:27.076 dollars in medicine actually expires every year and gets thrown out. 0:05:27.356 --> 0:05:30.836 And so by having a more efficient logistics system that 0:05:30.916 --> 0:05:34.516 by the way, is cost comparable to using trucks or motorcycles, 0:05:34.676 --> 0:05:38.036 you can actually save these healthcare systems a lot of money. 0:05:38.276 --> 0:05:42.076 So is this a little bit like as has been 0:05:42.116 --> 0:05:44.676 the case in a number of countries, including a lot 0:05:44.676 --> 0:05:49.156 of African countries, that people get cell phones before landlines 0:05:49.196 --> 0:05:52.956 earns or established. Essentially you're offering a technology that's higher 0:05:52.956 --> 0:05:55.436 and better than they would have if they were doing 0:05:55.516 --> 0:05:58.956 road deliveries. Are we skipping a stage of infrastructure in 0:05:59.036 --> 0:06:01.796 order to do this? That is exactly how we often 0:06:01.876 --> 0:06:05.356 think about about this, and that's typically called leap frogging 0:06:05.516 --> 0:06:09.076 in global development, and the idea of leap frogging land 0:06:09.156 --> 0:06:10.836 lines to go straight to cell phones. I think it's 0:06:10.836 --> 0:06:13.396 a very similar thing to what's happening here. It's often 0:06:13.436 --> 0:06:17.196 the countries that have the highest need and the ability 0:06:17.236 --> 0:06:20.316 to move quickly on a new technology, they can actually 0:06:20.356 --> 0:06:23.716 innovate the fastest. So for example, Kenya has like the 0:06:23.796 --> 0:06:26.276 highest rate of adoption for mobile payments of any country 0:06:26.276 --> 0:06:27.756 on Earth. I believe that was the case at least 0:06:27.756 --> 0:06:32.116 a year ago. Rwanda and Ghana have fully autonomous systems 0:06:32.236 --> 0:06:36.676 delivering large percentages of their healthcare supply chains and in 0:06:36.716 --> 0:06:39.876 a cost effective way, and that network of distribution centers 0:06:39.916 --> 0:06:44.036 has become the largest commercial autonomous system on Earth. Funny 0:06:44.116 --> 0:06:47.036 if I have been to both Rwanda and Ghana and 0:06:47.436 --> 0:06:50.756 relative to other countries in the in their respective regions, 0:06:50.796 --> 0:06:53.836 both of them, for very different reasons, are relatively well run. 0:06:54.436 --> 0:06:56.916 That's true, you know, would this work in a less 0:06:56.956 --> 0:06:59.516 well run country. I mean, how much do you depend 0:06:59.636 --> 0:07:03.396 on the local health bureaucracy and you know, the training 0:07:03.476 --> 0:07:08.596 of local bureaucrats and technicians. I mean, it doesn't work without, 0:07:09.156 --> 0:07:11.036 you know, an amazing partner on the other side. A 0:07:11.076 --> 0:07:12.956 lot of the success that we've had in Rwanda and 0:07:12.996 --> 0:07:15.316 Ghana is thanks to exactly as you said. You know, 0:07:15.356 --> 0:07:18.116 we chose Rwanda and Ghana for a reason, really innovative 0:07:18.116 --> 0:07:21.076 governments that are moving fast or investing in healthcare, investing 0:07:21.116 --> 0:07:24.876 in infrastructure. And for sure, there are some governments, both 0:07:24.876 --> 0:07:26.636 in Africa but also other parts of the world that 0:07:26.676 --> 0:07:29.716 just are not well enough organized probably to take advantage 0:07:29.716 --> 0:07:32.116 of this kind of technology yet. But that said, I 0:07:32.116 --> 0:07:33.756 mean there are a lot of countries that are now 0:07:33.836 --> 0:07:36.916 following in Rwanda and Ghana's footsteps, the US, you know, 0:07:37.756 --> 0:07:40.836 potentially the biggest among them. A lot of countries are 0:07:40.876 --> 0:07:42.836 looking at what they've achieved. I mean, the fact that 0:07:42.916 --> 0:07:47.036 Rwanda is now providing universal access to healthcare for every 0:07:47.036 --> 0:07:50.076 single one of its fifteen million or so citizens in 0:07:50.116 --> 0:07:53.276 a way that is a cost effective and be enables 0:07:53.276 --> 0:07:55.956 all these new paradigms of care, especially close to where 0:07:55.996 --> 0:07:59.276 people live and This is something that impacts every healthcare system, 0:07:59.396 --> 0:08:02.196 especially coming out of this pandemic. So in the US, 0:08:02.836 --> 0:08:05.196 you know, the pandemic has led a lot of hospital 0:08:05.196 --> 0:08:09.036 systems to suddenly focus on, Hey, how do we decent 0:08:09.116 --> 0:08:11.716 centralized care. How do we treat patients closer where they live, 0:08:11.876 --> 0:08:14.396 extend the reach of the hospital system directly into the home. 0:08:14.796 --> 0:08:16.996 And they look at what Rwanda and Gone are doing 0:08:17.036 --> 0:08:20.316 and say, that's a good answer. So this is, for example, 0:08:20.316 --> 0:08:22.636 the reason that we launched with Navant Healthcare in North 0:08:22.636 --> 0:08:28.436 Carolina in the middle of last year. So North Carolina 0:08:28.476 --> 0:08:31.596 is learning from Rwanda. Is that how you would characterize it, 0:08:33.356 --> 0:08:36.636 This trend of big hospital systems that used to rely 0:08:36.756 --> 0:08:40.756 on patients coming into the hospital to receive care. Patients 0:08:40.916 --> 0:08:44.076 hate that. The most vulnerable populations are the ones that 0:08:44.076 --> 0:08:46.756 are least likely to be able to even do that, 0:08:46.836 --> 0:08:48.596 to take time off work or have a car to 0:08:48.876 --> 0:08:51.396 get to that hospital in a city, and it's the 0:08:51.436 --> 0:08:54.396 most expensive way of treating a patient. So as we 0:08:54.436 --> 0:08:57.676 actually start paying for quality of care and outcomes rather 0:08:57.716 --> 0:09:02.116 than paying for procedures, health systems become incentivized to treat 0:09:02.156 --> 0:09:04.076 patients closer where they live. If you can treat them 0:09:04.076 --> 0:09:06.116 at a primary care facility. That's amazing. If you can 0:09:06.156 --> 0:09:08.996 send a home healthcare nurse directly to their home, or 0:09:09.236 --> 0:09:10.916 you can just you know, have them talk to a 0:09:10.956 --> 0:09:14.956 doctor via telepresence. In many ways, the logistics service, the 0:09:15.036 --> 0:09:17.316 kind of instant delivery the zipline provides, is just the 0:09:17.316 --> 0:09:20.476 other half of telepresence. I do have to say, I 0:09:20.516 --> 0:09:24.516 remember first hearing the expression telemedicine being used widely at 0:09:24.516 --> 0:09:26.876 the beginning of the pandemic, and it sounded so exciting 0:09:27.636 --> 0:09:29.596 until I realized that it really, most of the time 0:09:29.676 --> 0:09:32.836 meant talking to the doctor on the phone, which seemed 0:09:32.876 --> 0:09:36.596 to seem much less exciting that fancy. It's like pretty 0:09:37.396 --> 0:09:39.636 it's kind of crazy actually that that was going to 0:09:39.716 --> 0:09:42.596 you know that that has taken so long. Is it 0:09:42.636 --> 0:09:46.036 possible that this is working partly because there's so few 0:09:46.076 --> 0:09:48.716 other drones being used this way. I mean, drones are 0:09:48.796 --> 0:09:52.276 used for photography, and they're used for they you know, 0:09:52.276 --> 0:09:54.236 they have a military function, but they haven't really been 0:09:54.316 --> 0:09:57.876 used as a delivery service before. I mean, can you 0:09:57.876 --> 0:10:00.516 imagine us running into trouble if there were lots of 0:10:00.556 --> 0:10:02.836 people doing this or do you think it will? It's 0:10:02.876 --> 0:10:05.396 something that we're all just going to get used to 0:10:05.436 --> 0:10:09.316 over time. People often ask about that. I I think 0:10:09.356 --> 0:10:11.596 people have this sense that like, oh my god, the 0:10:11.596 --> 0:10:14.196 sky is going to be darkened by drones, and I 0:10:14.236 --> 0:10:17.316 actually think, just from a physics perspective, probably people's intuition 0:10:17.396 --> 0:10:19.396 is a little bit off about how big the sky is. 0:10:19.916 --> 0:10:22.796 You know, when we're flying, we fly below the commercial 0:10:22.836 --> 0:10:26.716 aviation floor, but well above where you can hear the 0:10:26.796 --> 0:10:29.076 vehicle or even really distinguish the vehicle from a bird. 0:10:30.396 --> 0:10:32.636 It's very hard to see an aircraft when it's flying 0:10:32.676 --> 0:10:34.916 by it four hundred feet which is our cruise altitude, 0:10:35.836 --> 0:10:38.436 and the sky the sky is just really really large. 0:10:38.876 --> 0:10:41.076 That leads obviously to the next question, which is what 0:10:41.116 --> 0:10:44.196 do these drones look like? How big are they? How 0:10:44.236 --> 0:10:47.556 fast do they fly? And how do they operate? I 0:10:47.596 --> 0:10:50.996 read somewhere that the drones use don't actually stop. It's 0:10:51.036 --> 0:10:53.316 not like they land and deliver something and then take 0:10:53.316 --> 0:10:57.396 off again. They drop the goods. I mean almost like parachuters. 0:10:57.476 --> 0:11:00.476 Can you describe what that looks like. They weigh about 0:11:00.556 --> 0:11:05.076 forty pounds each and they launch and land only at 0:11:05.076 --> 0:11:08.156 our distribution centers. So this means that when we receive 0:11:08.196 --> 0:11:11.356 an order. That order will come via SMS or via 0:11:11.396 --> 0:11:14.116 WhatsApp or via a phone call to our fulfillment center. 0:11:14.596 --> 0:11:17.516 We have trained pharmacists who can take a product, for example, 0:11:17.596 --> 0:11:20.516 say two units of blood loaded into a package. That 0:11:20.636 --> 0:11:23.676 package is loaded into the airplane. The airplane is set 0:11:23.716 --> 0:11:27.156 onto a launcher, and once the flight computer has booted 0:11:27.236 --> 0:11:30.276 up and is ready to fly the aircraft, we launched 0:11:30.316 --> 0:11:33.436 the aircraft. It actually accelerates from zero to about eighty 0:11:33.516 --> 0:11:35.476 kilometers an hour and about a third of a second, 0:11:35.516 --> 0:11:37.916 so really really fast. It will fly out to the 0:11:37.996 --> 0:11:41.676 GPS coordinates of the hospital or primary care facility that 0:11:41.716 --> 0:11:44.556 placed the order. And then when we deliver, we actually 0:11:44.556 --> 0:11:47.156 descend from our cruise altitude of about four hundred feet 0:11:47.156 --> 0:11:50.116 to somewhere between thirty and six feet, and we deliver 0:11:50.236 --> 0:11:52.916 into a mailbox, which is really just a made up 0:11:52.956 --> 0:11:55.156 rectangle on the ground. It's the size of a couple 0:11:55.236 --> 0:11:57.756 parking spaces. So as long as the primary care facility 0:11:57.836 --> 0:12:02.116 or hospital has a couple parking spaces, whether that's actual 0:12:02.116 --> 0:12:05.796 parking spaces or a little grassy patch or even you know, 0:12:05.876 --> 0:12:08.116 for example, in the hospital in North Carolina, we deliver 0:12:08.156 --> 0:12:11.516 onto the rooftop of one of our hospitals. They can 0:12:11.556 --> 0:12:13.236 kind of set up their mailbox wherever they like, and 0:12:13.276 --> 0:12:15.036 then they know that the product is always going to 0:12:15.076 --> 0:12:17.316 be delivered into that mailbox. We use a really simple 0:12:17.356 --> 0:12:19.476 paper parachute attached to the package to make sure that 0:12:19.516 --> 0:12:23.276 the package comes gently to the ground, and that enables 0:12:23.356 --> 0:12:26.316 us to basically provide this autonomous service without ever having 0:12:26.436 --> 0:12:30.036 untrained humans come close to the vehicles. And does it 0:12:30.116 --> 0:12:33.116 ever fail well, it plane operates in the real worhold. 0:12:33.116 --> 0:12:35.596 And what one thing I've learned is like nothing is 0:12:35.596 --> 0:12:38.596 a one hundred percent in the real world. So certainly, 0:12:38.636 --> 0:12:41.076 like you, especially in the early days of the service, 0:12:41.116 --> 0:12:43.756 we had certain instances where the packaging land quite in 0:12:43.756 --> 0:12:46.996 the mailbox. We've had instances where the plane will encounter 0:12:47.076 --> 0:12:50.076 emission failure and have to turn around and come home, 0:12:50.156 --> 0:12:52.036 and then you know, we'll use another plane to do 0:12:52.076 --> 0:12:55.636 that delivery maybe fifteen minutes later. All logistics kind of 0:12:55.636 --> 0:12:58.316 operates on percentages, and that things one hundred percent. We 0:12:58.356 --> 0:13:02.756 guaranteed our customer ninety six percent service uptime, and we've 0:13:02.796 --> 0:13:05.636 actually achieved something like ninety nine percent service uptime, so 0:13:05.796 --> 0:13:09.916 way higher than any kind of traditional logistics. You know, 0:13:09.996 --> 0:13:15.236 these kinds of vehicles can operate more reliably than motorcycles 0:13:15.236 --> 0:13:17.716 and cars, and they can operate in kinds of weather 0:13:17.836 --> 0:13:21.076 and conditions that actually traditional logistic systems don't operate in 0:13:21.196 --> 0:13:23.396 at all, and that is one of the main value 0:13:23.396 --> 0:13:26.796 propositions of this kind of technology. In the US, there's 0:13:27.356 --> 0:13:30.916 I'm afraid drones have a negative connotation. They don't make 0:13:30.956 --> 0:13:34.356 people think of, you know, life saving technology. They make 0:13:34.396 --> 0:13:37.476 people think of military strikes. Has that been a problem 0:13:37.516 --> 0:13:41.036 for you when while moving these ideas to North Carolina 0:13:41.076 --> 0:13:43.156 and proposing their use in other places? Do you find 0:13:43.196 --> 0:13:46.436 Americans are more resistant to the use of drones and delivery? 0:13:46.956 --> 0:13:48.956 That's a complicated question. I mean, you know, if you 0:13:48.996 --> 0:13:51.396 think drones have a bad connotation in the US, just 0:13:51.476 --> 0:13:54.036 imagine where they've actually been used by the US government 0:13:54.076 --> 0:13:56.716 to kill people. Like those countries have an even more 0:13:56.716 --> 0:14:00.156 negative connotation. But yeah, absolutely, I think that this general 0:14:00.156 --> 0:14:03.356 technology has been thought of as technology that kills people 0:14:03.636 --> 0:14:06.156 rather than technology that saves people's lives, and that is 0:14:06.236 --> 0:14:08.596 part of the narrative that we are trying to rewrite. 0:14:08.876 --> 0:14:12.396 The reality is that autonomous systems of this kind can 0:14:12.436 --> 0:14:17.716 have a huge impact in equalizing access, building logistics systems 0:14:17.716 --> 0:14:21.676 that serves all humans equally and ensuring that where you 0:14:21.756 --> 0:14:25.316 live does not determine whether you live. It's just going 0:14:25.396 --> 0:14:27.836 to take time for people to see that other half 0:14:27.836 --> 0:14:31.276 of the coin. And you know, in Rwanda and Ghana today, 0:14:32.316 --> 0:14:36.356 the community acceptance for this national service is through the 0:14:36.476 --> 0:14:39.796 roof because most people have a cousin or a family 0:14:39.796 --> 0:14:42.556 member or a friend who has received a product and 0:14:42.636 --> 0:14:46.756 is perhaps even alive because this service is available and 0:14:46.796 --> 0:14:48.396 it's pretty simple. And by the way, they don't call 0:14:48.396 --> 0:14:52.436 them drones. They just call them sky ambulances. Sky ambulance 0:14:52.516 --> 0:14:55.956 sounds a lot nicer than drone act, but it's also 0:14:55.996 --> 0:14:58.276 more specific to what it's actually doing. I think we 0:14:58.316 --> 0:15:01.436 actually tend to call things. There's a joke among roboticists 0:15:01.516 --> 0:15:04.836 that there are no useful robots because once something is useful, 0:15:04.956 --> 0:15:07.036 you just call it the thing that it does, rather 0:15:07.076 --> 0:15:09.476 than a robot. So for example, like a dish washer 0:15:09.636 --> 0:15:12.276 is a dishwasher or not, like you know, a robot 0:15:12.276 --> 0:15:14.316 that watches your dishes, And I think the same is true. 0:15:14.396 --> 0:15:17.276 You know, yeah, we don't really talk about drones. And 0:15:17.316 --> 0:15:19.196 in fact, I think one really important thing to understand 0:15:19.196 --> 0:15:21.396 about zip line is that none of our customers care 0:15:21.396 --> 0:15:24.436 about drones. All they care about is does something go 0:15:24.556 --> 0:15:26.596 from point A to point the fast enough to save 0:15:26.636 --> 0:15:32.036 someone's life. Recently, you've done a deal with Walmart. Have 0:15:32.116 --> 0:15:35.476 you created a partnership with Walmart? Tell me about that? 0:15:35.556 --> 0:15:37.876 Is that do you have the idea of expanding this 0:15:37.956 --> 0:15:42.196 beyond medical supplies to other things? Is that The purpose 0:15:42.236 --> 0:15:44.676 of it. What we're doing with Walmart right now is 0:15:44.836 --> 0:15:48.356 Walmart actually operates, you know, pharmacies that are closer to 0:15:48.396 --> 0:15:50.916 a lot of the most rural, vulnerable populations in the 0:15:51.036 --> 0:15:54.276 US of any company in the country. And so what 0:15:54.316 --> 0:15:57.396 we're focused on doing with Walmart is extending access to 0:15:57.676 --> 0:16:00.836 their pharmacy as well as specific health and wellness products 0:16:00.836 --> 0:16:03.636 directly to the home, so that people, if they need something, 0:16:03.756 --> 0:16:06.236 they can order it and get it delivered instantly, as 0:16:06.236 --> 0:16:08.836 opposed to have to go to a pharmacy, especially in 0:16:08.836 --> 0:16:11.356 the time of a pandemic. Can you deliver in the 0:16:11.396 --> 0:16:14.196 same way to somebody's house, I mean, to you know, 0:16:14.716 --> 0:16:17.356 letting a little parachute float down into their front yard. 0:16:17.396 --> 0:16:19.396 I mean, it's a good question and actually something that 0:16:19.436 --> 0:16:21.796 we'll have you know, we'll be making some announcements on 0:16:21.836 --> 0:16:25.036 over the coming year. Our goal is to serve every 0:16:25.036 --> 0:16:28.836 single GPS coordinates, every single home in all the countries 0:16:28.836 --> 0:16:32.116 where we operate. You know, today we can serve some 0:16:32.116 --> 0:16:33.876 of them, not all of them, but that percentage of 0:16:33.956 --> 0:16:36.636 homes that we serve will increase over time. Is there 0:16:36.676 --> 0:16:42.116 an issue in your business in drone delivery of privacy 0:16:42.796 --> 0:16:46.076 in the way there was with telemedicine that things that 0:16:46.236 --> 0:16:48.876 used to be one to one or things that you know, 0:16:48.916 --> 0:16:52.116 conversations that used to be absolutely privileged are now recorded 0:16:52.156 --> 0:16:55.996 somewhere or available to other people. Have you run into 0:16:56.036 --> 0:16:58.956 that as a barrier in what you do as well? 0:16:59.756 --> 0:17:03.476 Luckily on the privacy front, we really just fit in 0:17:03.596 --> 0:17:06.156 the same way that other logistics systems would fit in. 0:17:06.276 --> 0:17:09.236 We're certified in the same way that you know, our 0:17:09.356 --> 0:17:11.996 motorcycle or a courier service that was delivering something quickly 0:17:11.996 --> 0:17:14.876 would be certified. That's actually not something that is like 0:17:15.596 --> 0:17:19.836 new or requires us to to you know, reinvent the 0:17:19.836 --> 0:17:23.596 wheel keller. Can you remember the first time you realized 0:17:23.716 --> 0:17:27.156 that this system was going to work when in real 0:17:27.236 --> 0:17:30.756 life a drone took off and it delivered a medical 0:17:30.796 --> 0:17:33.036 product to someone who needed it. Can you can you 0:17:33.236 --> 0:17:38.516 remember that? That was, Like I certain experiences are probably 0:17:38.556 --> 0:17:42.276 indelibly you know, marked on your on your brain, and 0:17:42.516 --> 0:17:44.436 that's certainly one of them. I mean, I think the 0:17:44.596 --> 0:17:46.996 important context is when we were starting to build zip line, 0:17:47.716 --> 0:17:50.516 so many experts in global public health told us that 0:17:50.556 --> 0:17:52.316 this was a stupid idea and that it was never 0:17:52.356 --> 0:17:55.796 going to work. And it was in fact the governments. 0:17:55.796 --> 0:17:58.116 It was the ministers of health who kind of helped 0:17:58.156 --> 0:17:59.876 change our mind and say like no, no, no, like 0:17:59.916 --> 0:18:02.276 this will work, Like let's focus, let's you know, let's 0:18:02.516 --> 0:18:04.996 let's go see if we can deliver, for example, just blood, 0:18:05.036 --> 0:18:08.596 which is what we started doing in Rwanda. And I remember, 0:18:08.636 --> 0:18:11.436 you know, when we actually launched, the President of Rwanda came. 0:18:11.876 --> 0:18:14.156 He was one of the early champions for us getting 0:18:14.156 --> 0:18:17.356 started there. He launched the first aircraft. It went made 0:18:17.356 --> 0:18:19.916 a delivery, and I remember as we were sitting waiting 0:18:19.956 --> 0:18:22.036 for the plane to come back and land at the 0:18:22.036 --> 0:18:25.636 distribution center, like a hundred kids had gathered on the fence. 0:18:25.676 --> 0:18:28.596 We have a fence around our distribution centers, and there 0:18:28.636 --> 0:18:30.236 were one hundred kids on the fence kind of like 0:18:30.316 --> 0:18:32.356 looking in waiting with us to watch this plane coming 0:18:32.356 --> 0:18:34.356 inland and he just casually pointed at all of them 0:18:34.356 --> 0:18:37.276 and he said, those are the future engineers of Rwanda, 0:18:37.556 --> 0:18:39.836 And it really made me realize that this is, you know, 0:18:39.916 --> 0:18:42.196 in some ways, this is bigger than healthcare. This is 0:18:42.996 --> 0:18:45.916 this is building a world where people who have been 0:18:46.236 --> 0:18:49.516 left behind by traditional economies, left behind by traditional kinds 0:18:49.516 --> 0:18:51.916 of logistics systems, are actually going to have a chance 0:18:51.956 --> 0:18:54.196 to lead the world. And by the way, you know, 0:18:54.276 --> 0:18:57.676 these kinds of jobs, these kinds of startups and new 0:18:57.716 --> 0:19:02.396 ideas and new innovations are going to create jobs and opportunities, 0:19:02.876 --> 0:19:05.116 and we've found I mean, I think the most important 0:19:05.156 --> 0:19:08.676 thing about zip line to understand is that the superheroes 0:19:08.676 --> 0:19:11.796 behind this story are the flight engineers and flight operators 0:19:11.836 --> 0:19:14.436 who operate all of our distribution centers across the world, 0:19:14.596 --> 0:19:17.516 and those teams are one hundred percent local. What are 0:19:17.556 --> 0:19:20.516 a few things that listeners could do to help you 0:19:20.636 --> 0:19:24.356 solve this problem, in other words, to encourage medical innovation 0:19:25.076 --> 0:19:28.676 to bring these kinds of delivery systems to their own communities. 0:19:29.516 --> 0:19:33.036 What do you suggest that people do You know, that's 0:19:33.076 --> 0:19:36.996 an awesome question and one that I rarely get. In fact, 0:19:36.996 --> 0:19:38.556 I don't know if I've ever had someone asked that. 0:19:40.156 --> 0:19:43.196 One is that I do think people should demand more 0:19:43.316 --> 0:19:46.756 from their healthcare systems. Healthcare systems that really survive and 0:19:46.756 --> 0:19:48.196 thrive are going to have to figure out how to 0:19:48.236 --> 0:19:51.476 provide care in a convenient, cost effective way closer to 0:19:51.516 --> 0:19:54.676 where patients live. You know. Another thing is that we're 0:19:54.716 --> 0:19:57.196 a global company, and we're really proud of what we 0:19:57.236 --> 0:19:59.316 get to do outside the US. But as a US Citi, 0:19:59.316 --> 0:20:00.756 isn't it If I were to speak for a second, 0:20:00.916 --> 0:20:03.996 I would say, it is so so important that we 0:20:04.116 --> 0:20:07.836 not allow ourselves to fall behind in pre new areas 0:20:07.836 --> 0:20:11.596 of technology. Reason that we live in the richest country 0:20:11.636 --> 0:20:14.876 today is that our grandparents did an amazing job of 0:20:14.916 --> 0:20:17.636 moving really quickly on things like cars and airplanes and 0:20:17.676 --> 0:20:21.596 satellites in the space race, you know. And the reality 0:20:21.756 --> 0:20:24.196 is that there are a lot of industries that are 0:20:24.196 --> 0:20:27.036 those corollaries today, but I think the US is not 0:20:27.396 --> 0:20:30.236 pursuing them as aggressively, and in many cases we're allowing 0:20:30.236 --> 0:20:33.836 regulation to actually hinder the adoption of that technology in 0:20:33.836 --> 0:20:36.796 the US, and other countries are not wasting time. China, 0:20:36.876 --> 0:20:39.836 for example, is moving really really quickly when it comes 0:20:39.836 --> 0:20:44.236 to things like nuclear fusion and quantum computing and drone delivery. 0:20:44.436 --> 0:20:46.316 We have to realize that if we don't innovate other 0:20:46.356 --> 0:20:49.996 as well, and we won't necessarily lead the world forever. 0:20:51.196 --> 0:20:55.076 Are there books or articles that you've read, other things 0:20:55.076 --> 0:20:57.596 to read or watch that you can suggest for people 0:20:57.636 --> 0:20:59.956 who are who are interested in pursuing this subject further. 0:21:01.116 --> 0:21:03.556 You know, drone delivery is a little trickier because it's 0:21:03.836 --> 0:21:05.796 it's just so nascent that you know, I don't think 0:21:05.796 --> 0:21:09.196 the books have been really written yet, but I can say, 0:21:09.196 --> 0:21:11.556 you know, this broader trend that I'm describing of really 0:21:11.636 --> 0:21:14.996 understanding the context of where growth is happening in the world. 0:21:15.676 --> 0:21:20.196 I know two books that I deeply love. Factfulness by 0:21:20.436 --> 0:21:23.556