Name: Minds On Design Lab
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With the success of our WeRobotics Global conference, we want to share all of the learnings and experiences from the event with the entire community. Over the next several weeks we will be releasing videos of the presentations, session by session. PDF’s of the speakers’ presentation slides will also be made available.

Session 1 featured our Flying Labs Coordinators, and opened with Patrick Meier’s convening presentation which provided an overview of WeRobotics and the big picture context for social sector robotics. Patrick introduced the three Flying Labs Coordinators, and spoke about the unique skills and expertise they’re helping to build locally, strengthening the WeRobotics Network as a whole and paving the way for any potential future labs to join. Patrick’s presentation slides

Tanzania Flying Labs coordinator Yussuf Said Yussuf spoke about his lab’s use of aerial robotics for disaster damage assessment following the earthquake in Bukoba, and for coastal monitoring, environmental conservation, and forestry management. He also emphasized the importance of community engagement, and previewed some new projects that Tanzania Flying Labs is working on such as mangrove monitoring for the Department of Forestry. Yussuf’s Presentation Slides

Peru Flying Labs coordinator Juan Bergelund presented the work of the labs in the Amazon Rainforest, which is a joint effort with the Peruvian Ministry of Health. Together, they are field-testing the use of affordable and locally repairable flying robots for the delivery of antivenom and other medical payload between local clinics and remote villages. Juan noted that Peru Flying Labs is gearing up to carry out a record number of flight tests this summer using a larger and more diverse fleet of flying robots. Juan’s Presentation Slides

Uttam Pudasaini showed how Nepal Flying Labs has been using flying robots for agriculture monitoring, damage assessment and mapping of property rights. He also gave an overview of the social entrepreneurship training and business plan competition recently organized by Nepal Flying Labs. This business incubation training has resulted in the launch of 4 new Nepali start-up companies focused on Robotics-as-a-Service. Uttam’s Presentation Slides