A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers in Wisconsin, USA, has designed a drone-based system to rapidly deliver an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to remote areas.

The team had the opportunity to test the system’s effectiveness in the Wisconsin Northwoods, following one of the world’s most iconic cross-country ski races.

“Moving at more than 40 miles per hour, a drone can deliver an AED quickly and safely by avoiding obstacles on the ground—in this case, skiers, spectators and the forest itself,” says Lennon Rodgers, director of the Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Laboratory (DI Lab) in the UW-Madison College of Engineering and an engineer on the project.

Held annually for more than five decades between the northern Wisconsin cities of Cable and Hayward, the American Birkebiner is the world’s third-largest ski race.

“Birkie Week” events attract more than 11,000 skiers from around the world who participate in events of varying types and distances.

The premier event, a “ski marathon,” is a 50-kilometre skate and 55-kilometer classic race on a challenging, hilly course that concludes on Hayward’s Main Street. Most of the course runs through forested wilderness areas with limited road access — which also means it’s difficult for first responders to quickly reach participants who need urgent medical attention.

And tragedy did strike in 2023, when two skiers suffered cardiac arrest during a race, with the one that got the attack near the finish line lucky to receive life-saving care immediately.

The other skier was not so lucky; his arrest occurred further along the course where only spectators were scattered. A bystander immediately began CPR; but sadly, medical personnel traveling the remote 34-mile course by snowmobile were unable to arrive in time to resuscitate the skier.

“Time is critical during a cardiac arrest,” says Rodgers. “The person’s chance of survival decreases by as much as 10 percent every minute defibrillation is not administered.”

Birkebiner race physician Jesse Coenen reached out to Rodgers for a better solution. For the project, Rodgers was inspired, in part, by former UW-Madison industrial and systems engineering faculty member Justin Boutilier, who created a framework for a network of AED-outfitted drones.

Collaborating with Coenen, Rodgers and colleague John Lombardo, an instructor in the DI Lab, designed and built an AED-carrying system secured to the bottom of a DJI commercial drone.

The drone uses GPS coordinates to reach its destination. Then, while it hovers well above the tree canopy, its pilot remotely lowers the AED to the ground via a Kevlar cord, releases the AED, and flies the drone back to base.

Rodgers took the drone to the 2025 Birkebiner, where pilots Wayne Baker and Michael Randall of DJI tested it after all events had concluded.

Their goal? Simulate potential rescue scenarios for future Birkebiner races.

Although, you really have to chuckle at the irony of the team using a DJI M300 as a test drone for this project, given how hard the US federal is trying to kick DJI out of its commercial drone market.

With the defibrillator mounted on its landing gear, the drone performed admirably, flying to its intended destination, and successfully getting the package into the ground where it was needed.

The exercise, says Rodgers, may point to a future in which race organisers rely — in part — on a fleet of AED-carrying drones that can quickly respond to emergencies anywhere on the Birkebiner course.

“We also are seeking other collaborators,” he says.

“For example, a system like ours could be stationed on top of a hospital and could reach a 2-mile radius of the hospital in just a few minutes. Beyond AEDs, our system could deliver other critical small equipment, such as epinephrine auto-injectors or life jackets.”

In addition to Lombardo, Rodgers’ other engineering collaborators include Craig Conner and Kris Biegler, adjunct professors in mechanical engineering; and Rebecca Alcock, a PhD student in industrial and systems engineering.

In a related project, Rodgers also is advising Reese Highbloom, Chris Wilmoth, Carter Schreiber and Connon Keenan—a group of mechanical engineering seniors that is focused on delivering AEDs via drones to rural areas.

This project was partially sponsored by the Plexus Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program.