Biography
Patrick Meier is an internationally recognized expert on Humanitarian Technology. His new book Digital Humanitarians has been praised by Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, UN, Red Cross, World Bank, USAID and others. Over the past 14 years, Patrick has worked in the Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, India, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Morocco, Western Sahara, Haiti, Vanuatu and Peru on a wide range of humanitarian projects with multiple organizations including the United Nations, Red Cross and World Bank. Patrick is the Executive Director of WeRobotics, Founder of the Humanitarian UAV Network (UAViators) and co-Founder of the Crisis Mappers Network. WeRobotics accelerates the transfer of appropriate robotics technologies to partners in disaster-prone countries. Patrick also serves as a consultant for Planet Labs and Facebook. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC News, UK Guardian, The Economist, Forbes & Times Magazines, New Yorker, NPR, Wired, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American and elsewhere. His influential and widely-read blog iRevolutions has received close to 2 million hits. He tweets at @patrickmeier.
Humanitarian Crisis Mapping with Aerial and Space Robotics
This talk draws on real-world examples to illustrate how autonomous robotics like drones and satellites are being used in a wide range of humanitarian crisis mapping efforts. Robotics presents a fundamental shift from manually controlled technologies—a world we’re all very familiar with—to a world powered by increasingly intelligent and autonomous systems—an entirely different kind of world. Why does this fundamental shift matter to those working in humanitarian aid? For at least two reasons: the collection of humanitarian information and the transportation of humanitarian cargo. The rise of increasingly autonomous systems will impact both data collection and cargo delivery by making these processes faster, safer and more cost-effective. This talk will give real world examples from humanitarian projects in Nepal, Vanuatu, Peru, Tanzania and beyond. In closing, the talk highlight exactly how members of ASPRS can support future humanitarian crisis mapping efforts.
Book: http://digital-humanitarians.com
TEDx talk: http://werobotics.org/speaking-tedxberlin