The team had our first industrial visit today to a company called Zipline, everyone was very intrigued especially the Aeronautical engineers as they have been basing their workshop on Zipline’s work.
Zipline are a Rwandan based company who donate blood to rural hospitals by the use of drones. They established themselves in Rwanda in 2015 with their headquarters based in California USA. The drones have a battery life of two hours with distances ranging from 60km to 80km dependant on the drone in use. Whilst visiting we were lucky enough to witness two drones launching and returning to base, the set-up of blood for the drones and how the flight operator tracks the drone during its journey.
This was a very exciting and innovative use of various engineering disciplines which all the team could relate to. We were able to talk to the recruitment officer about the process of applying to Zipline alongside speaking to a summer intern who had been working for the company for the last two months before returning to her studies at Michigan State University. It was apparent the team were very keen to research the opportunities Zipline offered and could not have been more grateful for such an incredible opportunity.
The second half of the day consisted of visiting students from ‘Group Scolaire Notre Dame De Lourdes’ this was only female students so for the project it was our target audience. The workshops were well received by all and many students left their contact details to keep updated with the FemEng in Rwanda project.
FemEng in Rwanda 