Value Sensitive Design of a Humanitarian Cargo Drone

Value Sensitive Design (VSD) is an interdisciplinary approach to technological development that systematically incorporates ethical considerations and social impacts as design inputs. Here, the VSD methodology is described, and elements of VSD are applied with a technological focus to analyze an existing prototype humanitarian cargo drone. Then, a new proposed drone design that better supports the values of human welfare (physical, psychological, and material welfare), and environmental sustainability is developed. The new drone is a high-speed fixed-wing drone which uses internal combustion engines and drops its payload via parachute to minimize transportation time and maximize patient physical welfare. It uses lower levels of automation such as manual flight monitoring to increase reliability and safety (physical welfare), and support the local workforce (material welfare). The drone uses much less energy than the technology it replaces, and is therefore much more environmentally friendly, supporting environmental sustainability. This work contributes by being the first to apply VSD methods to the technological development of a specific drone platform, and by demonstrating how drone engineers can use VSD to develop ”ethical” drones.