OSU Students Look At Using Drones To Track Weather

Graduate Oklahoma State Aerospace Engineering students are getting national attention for how they're harnessing technology to construct unmanned drones. 

Professor Jamey Jacob says the project got its inspiration from the Murrah Building bombing nearly two decades ago. 

Jacob says unmanned drones can help find victims of mass destruction quicker than search and rescue crews. He says low-flying drones can also help to more accurately forecast severe weather. 

PHD Candidate Ben Loh designed an unmanned round drone that, not only can fly, it will also roll on the ground.

"If someone is on the ground, you can roll it to the person." 

Graduate student Fred Keating is working on building unmanned drones that can spot storm shelters, fire hydrants, and gas lines underneath the kind of rubble that severe weather causes. 

"It's already been done by the military," he said. "Now it just needs to be looked at from the civilian side."