Video: How a Cardboard Drone Could Save Lives

Could something as high-tech and valuable as a drone be made disposable? That's the goal of Otherlab with its Everfly Aerial Platform Supporting Autonomous Resupply Actions drone.

Inspired by origami and made with corrugated cardboard and some tape, this drone was designed through a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project to deliver medical supplies during a natural disaster or emergency situation.

The drone can carry about 2 pounds of cargo as it glides through the skies. It's more precise than a parachute, however. The cardboard structure contains tiny controls and GPS, where coordinates can be programmed in.

"This lets you do something that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do," said Star Simpson, a project engineer at Everfly. "If you had a drone that was more expensive and you wanted to, say, bring vaccines to where they were needed, you would not likely be willing to let that drone go without being willing to also go and retrieve it so you could reuse it."

To learn more, check out this video below from Wired: