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Morning Edition · Sunday, August 23, 2026Published at 2:19 AM EDT · New York
China Tests an Autonomous Flying Lifebuoy in a Hangzhou Water Rescue Drill
The craft flies to a person in the water, lands on the surface, supports their weight while rescuers approach, and returns to shore on its own.
Chinese state media reported this month that an autonomous flying rescue device was tested in a drill in Hangzhou. In the demonstration, the machine took off from shore, flew to a person in the water, landed on the surface and stayed stable…
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Part of a tracked trend
Autonomous Machines Enter Public Safety Roles
Purpose-built autonomous machines keep entering emergency response, inspection and public-safety work as low-cost commercial hardware, and China's manufacturing base converts that demand into deployed fleets faster than Western pilot programs, setting the price and the operating norms other markets later import.
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