PENDLETON — Pendleton’s drone testing program is starting to come off the hill.

In February, the unmanned aerial systems company Spright announced it was starting a proof-of-concept program with Interpath Laboratory and Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center to transport medical tests from interpath’s 2640 S.W. Perkins Ave. facilities to Yellowhawk’s clinic in Mission.

Spright ran its first test in mid-February, but it was a long time in the making.

Pendleton Economic Development Director Steve Chrisman said the origins of Spright in Pendleton can be traced back to a conference sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Aerial Systems International last year.

“It was just kind of fortuitous, bumping into each other,” he said.

Chrisman didn’t bump into the people behind Spright, an Arizona subsidiary of a medical transport company, but instead found himself at the booth for Wingcopter, a German aerospace company that was situated across the way from Pendleton’s booth. Chrisman began chatting with a man from Wingcopter, who told Chrisman the company was working with a customer who specialized in unmanned medical test delivery.

Chrisman connected the dots between Interpath’s presence in Pendleton and Spright, which eventually led to Spright renting a hangar from the Pendleton UAS Range.

In an email, Justin Steinke, Spright’s vice president of operations, explained what drew the company to Pendleton. While Spright’s unmanned vehicles are undergoing the Federal Aviation Administration certification process, Steinke said Interpath and Pendleton offered the right conditions for it to test its product.

“Interpath Laboratory is located inside the current test range, which allows us to accelerate the testing of the aircraft and the business case,” he wrote. “Having usable airspace to test and validate our operations in Pendleton is enabling Spright to accelerate the development of our solutions and more rapidly help people around the globe. Most importantly, Spright intends to continue to operate with Interpath after the testing phase is complete, making it an innovative win for the community of Pendleton.”

Steinke said Spright intends to test for the next six to nine months in locations around Pendleton before making its product fully available next year.

Interpath CEO Tom Kennedy did not return a request for comment, but in a press release, he explained why the lab testing company would be interested in investing in drones.

“Medical laboratory services in rural areas frequently must invest intensive time and resources into sample pick-up,” Kennedy said in a statement. “We anticipate Spright’s drone delivery service will alleviate many of the drawbacks and costs associated with automobile-based delivery. This initiative represents an example of our embrace of innovative solutions that provide more efficient and effective services to our clients.”

Yellowhawk became the third partner in the group through Interpath, which processes the medical tests conducted at the Mission clinic.

Yellowhawk CEO Aaron Hines said the medical center was attracted to the test program because it could mean faster test results for their patients. As it stands now, an Interpath vehicle picks up tests at Yellowhawk once per day. But if UAS took over test delivery, Yellowhawk could deliver and receive tests multiple times per day, meaning their patients could be treated more quickly.

While Hines likes the idea, he said he would want to study a drone delivery system for a longer period of time before moving forward with it. He said he wants to know how test specimens might be affected should one of the drones fail and crash. And while drones might be more efficient, conventional vehicular transportation has a much longer track record.

To Chrisman, Spright’s partnership with two well-known local entities is evidence UAS are closer to integrating into people’s everyday lives.

In UAS range’s earlier times, drone companies tended to conduct most of their testing at the Pendleton airport or in a secluded area far from public view. While many operations at the drone company still are opaque, Verizon and Amazon have recently confirmed, or even announced, their presence in Pendleton.

PENDLETON — The telecom giant Verizon is now one of the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range’s newest customers.

Verizon Robotics announced on Tuesday, March 15 that it is now running tests at the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range. According to a press release, testing at the range will focus on improving their research and development efforts, which will include training range staff in how to use a mobile command vehicle to communicate with its drones.

“The operations we are deploying at Pendleton Range will help advance R&D initiatives for customers,” Verizon Robotics President Mariah Scott said in a statement.“The range’s location helps create a local innovation testbed that can emulate real-life conditions, helping to bring products and services to market faster.”

In the press release, Verizon touted its efforts at developing UAS software that will help integrate drones into the national airspace, which is the main reason the Federal Aviation Administration designated Pendleton and other communities around the country as designated test sites.

Verizon is just the latest large corporation to take an interest in Pendleton. Amazon recently confirmed that it was testing drones at the range.