Google Testing Drone Delivery System: 'Project Wing'

rtoz writes: Google's research division, Google X, is developing a fleet of drones to deliver goods. This drone delivery system is called "Project Wing," and Google X has been developing it in secret for the past two years. During a recent test in Australia, drones successfully delivered a first aid kit, candy bars, dog treats, and water to a couple of Australian farmers. The self-flying vehicle uses four electrically-driven propellers to get around, and it has a wingspan of about five feet. It weighs just under 19 pounds and can take off and land without a runway. Google's long-term goal is to develop drones that could be used for disaster relief by delivering aid to isolated areas.

Comments

Aerial bacon

[smittyoneeach]

Pigs on the Wing

Google X? Project Wing?

[jenningsthecat]

X-Wing deliveries?

Sorry, but that was just begging for a Star Wars reference.

Re:Google X? Project Wing?

[ArcadeMan]

I guess the people at Google think they can force their way into the delivery market.

I can see it now

[timrod]

A hurricane hits the southern United States, as hurricanes tend to do. Thousands of people are without food or water, and desperate to get somewhere with food and shelter. Suddenly, a thousand Google drones descend from the sky, carrying much-needed supplies. The people rush toward the landing zones, only to hear:

"Please log in with your Google + account."

One brave man attempts to do so, and the voice continues.

"I'm sorry, but Google now offers new account options. You can choose to merge your existing account, xxNarutoFan93xx, with your personal email registered to Robert Smith. Would you like to do that now and get a free Google + page, or do you have an existing brand or company and not wish to change your displayed name at this time?"

Like the riddle of the Sphinx, the pointless options are too much for poor Robert Smith, alias xxNarutoFan93xx, who slinks back into the crowd, still hungry and thirsty.

Re:I can see it now

[Mr D from 63]

^of course, they will deliver cookies for free. Maybe fly some banner ads behind as well.

Re:I can see it now

[schlachter]

new meaning to "your google profile will follow you around"...what's that buzzzzz overhead?

Say what you will but this is cool

[Katatsumuri]

No matter whether it is Google or Amazon who gets this technology running first, and whether it is banned in America for a while, but this is our sci-fi future happening now, and it is amazingly cool to watch.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[i kan reed]

I don't know about you, but I've felt I lived in a sci-fi future since at least smartphones.

Then I remember my smart phone is assembled by an underclass of near slaves with appalling working conditions, whose suffering is hidden from me by layers of marketing, bureaucracy, and inter-corporate supply chains, and I realize, no, it's a cyber-punk future, actually.

I'm just not on the punk side, but instead the blaise upper class side that gets hacked by up-and-coming rebels in cyberpunk stories.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[danknight48]

No matter whether it is Google or Amazon who gets this technology running first, and whether it is banned in America for a while, but this is our sci-fi future happening now, and it is amazingly cool to watch.

If you consider "cool" as:
- You falling for Viral Marketing

Then yeah, i suppose its "cool". But to most of us, this is just a clear viral marketing attempt.
Its basic marketing, increase awareness for the company, increase profits.

Amazon did a few months ago, profits and awareness of the company increase.
But yet, wheres the drones or updates on them? Nowhere, why? Because everyone knows they just wouldn't work in our current world, let alone the laws that would prevent its flight.

This is clear viral marketing, dont be the fool and fall for it.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[alen]

the scifi future seems to always be to suck up money from people with impulse control issues who want something NOW and are willing to pay big bucks for it and whine why it should be cheaper

preloading digital games so you can play the second the game goes live
one click shopping
digital media with no refunds even if you never use it or watch it

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[ScentCone]

Because everyone knows they just wouldn't work in our current world, let alone the laws that would prevent its flight.

But we have laws, passed by the legislature, that mandate the FAA publish new rules specifically covering the integration of this sort of thing into the NAS by 2015. The Obama administration has said, though, that they won't comply with the law, and are taking every opportunity to hinder this sort of thing. There's a reason that outfits like Google are now spending money, hiring, and testing in other countries: because those countries are less hostile to ventures like this.

There's absolutely NO reason in the world why the tests that Google is doing in Oz couldn't be done with farmers just like those in the article, but living instead in rural Iowa or Ohio or California. But no, the administration keeps releasing increasingly bizarre, increasingly punitive, increasingly job-killing "interpretation" of the 2012 law, with spin that runs exactly counter to the plain language and intent of congress. Thank you, Mr. Obama, for chasing ever more innovation and growth out of the country.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[AtariDatacenter]

Amazon recently announced it was getting into the advertisement business, and it beat out Google to acquire Twitch.

Pure speculation on my part, but I have to wonder if this is just Google's CEO trying to steal some of the spotlight away from Amazon?

Suddenly, Google is saying, "Oh yeah... delivery drones. We've been doing this for some time now." It smells like petty CEO bickering. (As cool as delivery drones are.)

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[schlachter]

but they have smartphones too...its not the technology that sets us free.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[i kan reed]

No, it's the money.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[tlhIngan]

Amazon recently announced it was getting into the advertisement business, and it beat out Google to acquire Twitch.

Pure speculation on my part, but I have to wonder if this is just Google's CEO trying to steal some of the spotlight away from Amazon?

The real reason Amazon scooped Twitch and not Google was Google was worried about anti-trust issues if it bought Twitch .

Amazon didn't get Twitch because they paid more than Google (Google offered more), Google walked away worried. Twitch probably egged Amazon on to get more money from Amazon after Google went away.

Re:Say what you will but this is cool

[Issarlk]

Rejoice. Soon everything will be assembled by robot and we'll _all_ live in abject poverty.

Re: Say what you will but this is cool

[ArcadeMan]

Collide with helicopters and planes? Trains and automobiles? Drones aren't high-altitude flyers nor near-ground flyers either. That's like being afraid that our moon's orbit is going to collide with Mars.

Re: Say what you will but this is cool

[ScentCone]

So where does the liability lie when these things fall out of the sky, or collide with helicopters, planes, trains or automobiles? How will they "innovative" around that?

Where does the liability lie when a UPS truck backs over a baby stroller, or a FedEx delivery person loses control of a handtruck full of boxes and breaks someone's ankle? Where's the liability when an aircraft flown by DHL crashes short of the airport and burns a row of houses to the ground?

You make it sound like small plastic/foam flying wings with four battery-powered motors are the first dangerous thing that business has ever considered operating, and that there's no such thing as the liability insurance industry. Which means you're clueless about the real world, or just trolling. Or both.

From bots to robots?

[aNonnyMouseCowered]

Well it's seems Google is making a serious step toward a literally robotic future. That seems to be pretty obvious with its driverless car project. But when Google first acquired a fistful of robotics-related companies, some commentators speculated it was to allow Google to more effectively "mine" the data that would be flowing from what's effectively a mobile data scanner. Google already has Streetview and its book scanning project, so this, the reasoning went, is where Google's new robotic technologies will most likely slot in.

Now I don't know. Maybe Google is really planning to build a robot army.

For everyone outside the colonies

[Anonymous Coward]

Five feet is about one and a half meter.
19 pounds is about 18.6 kg.

Re:For everyone outside the colonies

[amalcolm]

Ummm, no 19 pounts is about 8.6 kg

Re:For everyone outside the colonies

[ArcadeMan]

Not sure about 19 pounts, but 19 pounds is indeed 8.61826 kg.

Re:Range?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since they're not landing it, I don't see a reason why they couldn't just go for more wing area and a lower wing loading. It could be as efficient as a sailplane.

Re:Competing with Amazon yet again?

[ArcadeMan]

I'll wait for the iDrone.

Good I'm practicing too.

[Virtucon]

I haven't shot skeet in a long time. It's time to start practicing again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Either that or I could just pick up Falconry.

Google, though?

[asylumx]

I don't understand how this fits in to Google's business model. Amazon, I understood -- but Google is an advertising firm. They don't sell tangible products that require delivery. Why do they care about how things are delivered when they don't deliver anything?

Re:Google, though?

[alexander_686]

Google is actually in the delivery business - see their Google Shopping Express.

But no, this is not part of their core business – this falls into one of their moonshot projects. Personally, I don't like when companies move out of their core. General Motors going into IT consulting, Apple Computers going into MP3 players, Microsoft going into MP3 players, Amazon moving away from books into cloud services. etc. Historically these ventures generate piss poor returns for the owners. Generally these things are better left to start-ups. But sometimes you have to give management the benefit of doubt.

Re:Google, though?

[Issarlk]

Well, is there a best way to know your consuming habits than to sell and deliver everything ?

You realize drones are flying cars right?

[kruach aum]

Pulled through the mangle of reality. The future is now.

Re:You realize drones are flying cars right?

[ArcadeMan]

You realize cars are something people use to travel right?

The FedEx bomber

[Will.Woodhull]

Google is always doing weird experimental shit. So this is not news.

What would be news is what FedEx or UPS are working on wrt drones. Imagine a FedEx jet flying high over a city, its bombay doors opening to spill out a fleet drone quadcopters that deliver the goods to designated rooftop landing pads. Imagine a world where technology is paying as much attention to the last 2,000 (vertical) feet of delivery as we do to the last mile of communications.

Re:Competing with Amazon yet again?

[Ambitwistor]

Surely you can't be Sirious.

Re:Competing with Amazon yet again?

[tom17]

Oh well done sir. I appleaud you on your funny.

Re:Range?

[dr.newton]

A 5-foot wingspan on a quad allows for huge props. That can lead to very long flight times with a well-engineered drone.

My 3DRobotics Y6 can do 90km/h, even if only for 8 minutes on one battery. That's a range of 6km, including return flight. Range would be higher at a lower speed, as it's more efficient, although I haven't had the balls to send the drone that far away from me in flight to test it. I'd guess I could do 10km out and 10km back on a $75 battery if I had the nerve to lose sight of my baby for that long.

See http://diydrones.com/profiles/... . These guys hope for a 1-hour flight time out of a quad with 27"-29" props on a 12kg (26lb.) drone. That's a range of 25km out and 25km back at a speed of 50km/h, which is not that fast. They've done some math that leads me to believe they are at least in the ballpark. And these guys are hobbyists.

Not such a stretch to think a company like Google could cover some good distance with a quadcopter of 9kg (19lbs.). 16km (10mi), as you say, is definitely achievable with current technology, and battery technology is due for a drastic improvement, with all the resources being put into it by different universities and companies.