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Amazon unveils Drone Delivery: Prime Air (seriously)

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ImpulsE69 said:
I could see christmas time being a free for all of shooting down drones...and yes, you could probably get away with it...unless we put cameras in every street corner...oh wait..
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The drones will likely have cameras of their own to assist in the landing, probably multiple cameras.

Places already restrict deliver to "bad" parts of town as well.
 
ImpulsE69 said:
I could see Christmas time being a free for all of shooting down drones...and yes, you could probably get away with it...unless we put cameras in every street corner...oh wait..
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Those robot wars that kids play in school (Battle Bots?) would be a whole lot more interesting in 3D 😀
 
Fritzo said:
I can see people getting hit by dropped packages on a regular basis.

"This iPhone...it just dropped from the heavens!!!"
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I wonder how these would be used in law enforcement - just fly a few up above a crowd & drop tear gas to dispel riots?
 
I think they're being a bit optimistic with the range of these things, knowing what I know about RC gear. Even the biggest batteries they could cram in there would last maybe 20min tops without a payload. 10mi radius (20mi round trip) is pushing it.
 
mmntech said:
I think they're being a bit optimistic with the range of these things, knowing what I know about RC gear. Even the biggest batteries they could cram in there would last maybe 20min tops without a payload. 10mi radius (20mi round trip) is pushing it.
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Gas?
 
They could launch disposable drones from a large drone. They'd free fall until they were a few hundred feet from ground, then fly to the target house. It wouldn't be 30 minute delivery, but the whole process could be automated from the distribution center to the house.
 
I can't imagine that they won't have some union issues to deal with.

I don't know much about the teamsters, but I assume every truck driver belongs, including delivery truck drivers.

You really think they're going to sit idly by while Amazon tries to eliminate a ton of their jobs?
 
Looks like my flight simulator skills could be of use. LOL "Wanted- Drone pilot for Amazon. Flight simulator experience a plus."

This is the begging of Skynet. 😵
 
I'm excited. This will be awesome if/when it works. I would they would need additional homing devices to get it to drop off accurately at your front door. Like a little beacon that sits there or something.
 
I don't really understand the argument that GPS is faulty and unreliable that some have stated since GPS is a series of satellites. However, let's play that train of thought out and pretend it is. Keep in mind that this is Amazon "Prime" Air. A Prime subscription is around $40. This means that they can accurately GPS the user based that has paid a premium fee for their membership dues and are therefore, more serious and loyal customers.
 
Palvaran said:
I don't really understand the argument that GPS is faulty and unreliable that some have stated since GPS is a series of satellites. However, let's play that train of thought out and pretend it is. Keep in mind that this is Amazon "Prime" Air. A Prime subscription is around $40. This means that they can accurately GPS the user based that has paid a premium fee for their membership dues and are therefore, more serious and loyal customers.
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I think the problem is in the address to GPS coordinate translation. That translation isn't perfect and could be a house off. Also, the drone has to figure out where to drop the package. It has to find the front door. That becomes trickier to do when the house is covered by trees so the drone has to drop down to explore underneath the trees. Heck, in extreme scenarios, the drone might not even be able to see the house from the air.

I like the idea of using humans for the last 300ft. The drone gets to the approximate location, hovers, and a human takes the drone down, finds the right house, and figures out where to land.
 
Leros said:
I like the idea of using humans for the last 300ft. The drone gets to the approximate location, hovers, and a human takes the drone down, finds the right house, and figures out where to land.
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Kinda like asking a customer will you be there in 30 minutes to take delivery? Then, customer meets at rendezvous and receives package. For some reason, it reminds me of something in the Hunger Games.

Life imitates Art.
 
For all those saying GPS isn't accurate enough, GPS + RFID would work. GPS gets it to the general location, RFID gets it to the exact landing spot.
 
It could be an extra step in your prime membership to validate your delivery coordinate before prime air is available. Seems easy enough.
 
In the near future they will have INS chips to augmentate GPS. DARPA is currently working on a chip that has a timer, accelerometer and 2 gyro scopes. Technically you don't need GPS with that sort of thing. The 737 has two laser precision gyroscopes and a GPS. A jet is like a guided ballistic missile.
 
What about people in apartments? I'm thinking about my building in SF. We have some serious trees out front on the narrow sidewalk and then no other access to the building.

Currently the delivery guys, ring the doorbell and I buzz them in and they either hoof it up the beasty stairs or just chuck it on the bottom of the stairs and move on.

A drone can't ring a door bell and throw a box on the stairs. If you could designate a landing zone with some sort of transmitter, I could set it up to drop on my porch, which would be amazing...
 
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