Automated drone transport: blood samples in record time

Jan Yperman Hospital in Ypres hosts the world's first Drone Cargo Port (DCP). This fully automated drone airport, a feat by Helicus, Avercon, and Siemens, receives blood samples, sending them via tube mail to the lab. Siemens Industry Academy was crucial, boosting healthcare staff efficiency.

Blood samples from Diksmuide to Ypres in 15 minutes

Bringing medical services closer to home: that is the mission of the Medical Center in Diksmuide - a campus of the Jan Yperman Hospital in Ypres - when it is founded in 2023. But for analysis, blood samples still have to go to the hospital. A trip of 45 minutes by car: slow, energy inefficient, a burden for the medical staff and with a risk of human error.

A logical place, then, for the world's first automated drone airport. By drone transport the blood samples go from A to B in 15 minutes. Then they go fully automatically via tube mail to the right destination.

“We started in 2015 with a great idea: using drones to make medical transport faster, easier and better,” Helicus CEO Mikael Shamim says. "But you don't realize such a dream overnight. You need not only hardware - the drones and the airport - but also software for integration, an airline and licenses, and partners to support you."

From dream to simulation with the Siemens Industry Academy

For the hardware part of the Drone Cargo Port, Helicus quickly turned to Siemens. “A project like this involves a lot of automation challenges: the drone has to be able to land, be positioned correctly, you have to take care of all the internal transport ... The Helicus product-development team collaborated with the Siemens Industry Academy, which allows Engineering Master students to be part of the design.”

About Helicus, Avercon and SIA

Antwerp-based scale-up Helicus specialises in (medical) drone transport, working closely with partners from the healthcare sector, aviation and industry. Helicus develops the ground integration in-house, including the Drone Cargo Port and in-building cargo handling, as well as the cloud-based Command & Control Center.

Machine builder Avercon, founded nearly 40 years ago with a focus on innovative packaging machines, has since become a recognised player in end-to-end automation projects. Its expertise includes virtual commissioning, robotics and control software.

The Siemens Industry Academy introduces engineering students to state-of-the-art industrial technologies. Students gain hands-on experience and develop professional skills by contributing to innovation projects led by top industrial players. Siemens, together with the participating educational institutions, provides the pedagogical and technical framework.

Through SIA, we bring engineering students into contact with the field. This is how they help innovative start-ups realize their dreams.

Bart Demaegdt, Business Development Digitalisation, Siemens

“The social impact was quickly clear to us,” confirms Bart Demaegdt, business development Digitalization at Siemens. "Through SIA, we bring engineering students into contact with the professional field. This is how they help innovative start-ups realize their dreams, among other things. The fact that they can then work on such a socially relevant project completes the circle. We are happy to invest in these kinds of projects."

In several rounds, KU Leuven students built a Digital Twin of what would become the Drone Cargo Port (DCP). "It's a smart way to test everything out without making major investments yourself, and an interesting track for students to work with the latest technologies. The students contributed to various parts of the solution, guided by experienced product development team. One of the projects was to build a Digital Twin to help make choices on the design and component selection. Once the model was sufficiently robust, Helicus could confidently purchase the necessary components and licenses."

From simulation to Drone Cargo Port with Avercon

When it came time to actually build the DCP, Siemens brought in machine builder Avercon. Bart: "The students had already come up with many ideas, but if you want to build something physically, you need the knowledge of experts. Avercon has almost 40 years of experience in mechanical engineering and is also an SIA partner. Moreover, they have experience with Digital Twins in their own machines, for example the fit-to-size packaging machine X7."

“We were also happy to invest in this innovative and social story,” confirms David Provoost, Account Manager at Avercon. "It was a tough challenge for us but we made it work. We further industrialized the designs from the Helicus Product Development team, supported by Siemens Industry Academy. We also further shaped the simulation ourselves according to our own standard in NX MCD."

Simulation played a key role in the success of the project.

Jorrit Chiapparo, Automation Engineer, Avercon

“Without Avercon's simulation, this would not have been possible,” adds automation engineer Jorrit Chiapparo. "A drone doesn't land 100% accurately where you want it, while it has to be nicely above the lock into which the package disappears. You don't have more than an inch of clearance. So we have to grab the drone and drag it after landing, but we have to constantly monitor the diameter of the drone so as not to pull it apart. You want to test something like that in advance, otherwise you will pull the drone apart."

“We had never built a machine outside before, let alone on a roof,” says Dimitri Van Steenkiste, project engineer at Avercon. "That puts high demands on the components: they have to be UV-resistant, have a high IP protection rating and be able to withstand wind blast. To protect everything, the DCP is equipped with two weatherproof hoods that swing open. For the type of servomotors that control the positioning system - which had to withstand sun, rain and wind - we were fortunately able to count on advice from Siemens."

Because the machine is outside, and even then on a roof, the components had to meet strict requirements.

Dimitri Van Steenkiste, Project Engineer, Avercon

More hands at the bedside

“It's nice that we were able to reduce the time of the journey from 45 to 15 minutes,” says Mikael Shamim. “Drone transport is also much more energy efficient than transport by car. But the most important thing for me is that this fully automated process significantly reduces the workload for healthcare staff. No one has to receive or transport packages. There is no longer any risk of packages being delivered incorrectly or getting lost. This efficiency gain means healthcare professionals can focus even more on their patients — which is what it’s ultimately all about.”

For Mikael Shamim, drones are therefore the transport solution of the future. “For now, we are focusing on hospitals that want to work more efficiently, and we are already working on a second project. At the same time, fully automated drone transport also offers significant opportunities for logistics. We are ready.”