---
title: "Man Uses His Heat-Seeking Drone to Find Missing Child"
description: "A local photographer used his heat-seeking drone to find a six-year-old boy who'd gotten lost in a cornfield in Minnesota."
date: "2019-10-18"
modified: "2019-10-18"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/heat-seeking-drone-missing-child"
categories:
  - "Drones"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "drone"
  - "Search and Rescue"
  - "the digest"
---

# Man Uses His Heat-Seeking Drone to Find Missing Child

![A local photographer used his heat-seeking drone to find a six-year-old boy who'd gotten lost in a cornfield in Minnesota.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/photographer-heat-seeking-drone-missing-child.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Erwin Nowak via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Search Party

On Tuesday, a six-year-old boy named Ethan [disappeared in Minnesota](<https://abcnews.go.com/US/drone-finds-missing-year-minnesota-boy-cornfield/story?id=66327536>), prompting more than 600 people to form a search party.

Numerous law enforcement agencies and even a state patrol helicopter contributed to the search — but it was a heat-seeking drone operated by a local photographer that led to the boy's rescue, 10 hours after he went missing.

## Boy's Best Friend

According to a Sherburne County Sheriff's Office [press release](<https://www.facebook.com/SherbCoSheriff/photos/rpp.108130079887749/418743345493086/?type=3&theater>), the drone spotted Ethan lying with [his dog Remington](<https://twitter.com/PaulBlume_FOX9/status/1184511602424516610>) in a cornfield about a mile away from his home a little before 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The boy was cold but otherwise healthy, and after a [trip to the hospital](<https://www.fox9.com/news/missing-6-year-old-minnesota-boy-found-with-family-dog-after-600-volunteers-helped-search>) for evaluation, he returned home with his family.

https://youtu.be/XKh2-j2Azqg

## Search and Rescue

This isn't the first time a drone has proven invaluable in a search-and-rescue operation — we've seen others help save [stranded swimmers](<https://futurism.com/rescue-drone-saved-two-teen-swimmers-first-day-deployment>), [earthquake victims](<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4x3nkd/what-chinas-drone-led-search-for-earthquake-survivors-looks-like>), and [lost hikers](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/22153/mountain-rescue-aspens-drone-implementation-saves-hikers-life>).

While many of the drones used for those missions were designed for rescue purposes, in this instance, the drone's owner, [Steve Fines](<http://www.finesaerial.com/>), typically used it to shoot photography — but when he heard Ethan was lost, he knew he had to do what he could to help find the boy.

"Six years old, lost out in the fields," Fines [told local news station *KARE*](<https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/photographer-uses-drone-thermal-camera-to-find-missing-boy/89-f6744354-5017-424b-b013-1f079957eee0>). "It's 30 degrees. You can't not do something."

**READ MORE:** [Heat-seeking drone finds missing 6-year-old Minnesota boy in cornfield](<https://abcnews.go.com/US/drone-finds-missing-year-minnesota-boy-cornfield/story?id=66327536>) \[*ABC News*\]

**More on drones:** *[A Rescue Drone Saved Two Teen Swimmers on Its First Day of Deployment](<https://futurism.com/rescue-drone-saved-two-teen-swimmers-first-day-deployment>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)