Lijia Village is located at the southernmost end of County Road 169 in Alishan Township, Chiayi County, at an altitude ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 meters. The area is frequently visited by hundred-pace vipers, making snake antivenom an extremely important medical resource for the local community.
In life-threatening situations, the antivenom is delivered by the Alishan Township Health Center. However, since the health center is located in Leye Village, the winding mountain roads make transportation time-consuming, and it takes about one hour to deliver the antivenom to Lijia Village.
At the same time, the approved storage temperature for the antivenom is between 2°C and 8°C. Due to the long delivery time and the difficulty of maintaining proper storage conditions, personnel from the Centers for Disease Control have placed great importance on addressing this issue.
英文翻譯如下：
Drone technology has developed rapidly in recent years. In line with international experience, Taiwan has also seen diverse developments in areas such as regulation, services, and industry. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is also actively planning strategies to promote the development of drones.
When a disaster-hit area becomes cut off from the outside world, how can life-sustaining supplies be delivered to survivors in the critical first moments?
The rural drone logistics test project, launched in 2018, first selected Zuozhen District in Tainan City to complete practical technical verification, confirming that application services could be successfully implemented in relatively flat terrain. This test was conducted in Alishan Township to explore how drones can overcome the challenges of mountainous terrain and significant altitude differences.
In terms of mail delivery by drone, Chunghwa Post currently relies entirely on cooperation between post offices and agency offices for mail delivery services in remote areas. However, mountain roads are often affected by natural disasters such as landslides and rockfalls, which can interrupt postal routes.
In the past, when such situations occurred, personnel had to take risks and enter disaster-stricken areas on foot. This not only required a great deal of time, but also increased the risk faced by delivery personnel during transport.
Therefore, through this flight test, the aim is to simulate the use of drones for mail delivery in remote mountainous areas when postal routes are interrupted by weather or transportation-related factors in the future.
This would help ensure the continuity of postal services while also protecting the safety of postal personnel involved in delivery operations.
On the 19th, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-Lung, Chiayi County Magistrate Weng Chang-Liang, Legislator Chen Ming-Wen, Chunghwa Post Chairman Wei Chien-Hung, and Li Tsui-Feng, Director of the Southern Regional Center of the Centers for Disease Control, jointly presided over the presentation of the Alishan drone logistics test results.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications stated that the snake antivenom supplied by the Centers for Disease Control is a life-saving medical resource for people bitten by venomous snakes. However, it is difficult to produce and costly. Since snakebite incidents occur only occasionally, keeping antivenom in storage for too long may lead to expiration and waste of medical resources.
Currently, there are more than 200 antivenom reserve locations across Taiwan. In emergency situations, priority must be given to responding through coordinated allocation and dispatch.
This delivery mission used a fully 4G-connected system, allowing the drone to be remotely controlled via the network. The drone was able to complete the mission through autonomous flight mode while transmitting mapping data and key information in real time, such as altitude, distance, and speed, enabling operators to monitor the drone’s current status instantly.
In addition, sensor data can also be transmitted back in real time, making it possible to implement a wide range of different applications in the future.