On Thursday, delivery giant UPS and Massachusetts-based drone maker CyPhy Works successfully tested a UAS making a delivery of medical supplies to an area that is inaccessible by car.

During the mock delivery, the UAS, which was a Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) model, successfully flew from Beverly, Massachusetts to Children’s Island, about three miles off the coast, delivering an asthma inhaler to a child in a timely manner. UPS hopes this test can serve as a launching point in its effort to eventually deliver humanitarian aid around the world.

“Our focus is on real-world applications that benefit our customers,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability, in a company press release. “We think drones offer a great solution to deliver to hard-to-reach locations in urgent situations where other modes of transportation are not readily available.”

CyPhy’s founder and chief technology officer, Helen Greiner, echoed Wallace’s statements by saying, “We’re thrilled to partner with UPS in this endeavor. Drone technology used in this way can save lives and deliver products and services to places that are difficult to reach by traditional transit infrastructures.”

Besides hoping to deliver medical materials to places across the world, UPS has also been testing UAS to assist workers in their warehouses. Thus far, it has tested UAS to check tall storage racks to confirm stock or available space.

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