Mayor Eric Adams, an avowed technophile, said the drones would be used to assist lifeguards at Coney Island as part of a pilot program starting this summer.
During a period of painful budget cuts, New York City lawmakers secured private funding to pay for free swim lessons for 2,000 second graders starting in June.
The iron monkeys with shackled wrists were mentioned nearly 50 years ago in a biography of Robert Moses, who put them there. But they remained mounted in a Riverside Park playground until recently.