Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

USPS Shortlists 'HorseFly' Octocopter Drone Delivery Service

Posted by timothy on from the why-they-want-9-digit-zip dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The likes of GM and Nissan are keeping unusual company in the bidding war to build and deliver the next generation of delivery vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service. Workhorse Group Inc. have made it to the 16-company shortlist with their octocopter drone delivery system, developed by the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science. The self-guiding UAV 'HorseFly' has multiple hardware and software redundancy systems and launches from its special host van 'WorkHorse' to get the parcel the final hurdle to the door. The drone can recharge itself wirelessly in two minutes at base, and calculates its own routes from the van to the destination door.

67 comments

  1. but will by rossdee · · Score: 2

    the customers (snail mail spammers) pay for this?

    1. Re:but will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would like an answer to this as well

    2. Re:but will by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Informative

      'Mail' does not get delivered directly to the White House.
      It first goes to an off-site location to be checked.

    3. Re:but will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's cheaper than people.

    4. Re:but will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's cheaper than people.

      It's cheaper than pre-funding a new-hire's pension for 75 years.

    5. Re:but will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Swoosh.... that's the sound of the joke flying above your stupid head at 80mph.

  2. I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This craze with delivery drones, or am I the only one who thinks it's overkill?

    1. Re:I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They definitely have a distinct niche when it comes to delivering packages. For the right scenario definitely not overkill, however I really don't see the right scenario coming up frequently enough to personally see them as viable at the moment.

    2. Re:I don't understand by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      A self-driving van with delivery drone or drones may be cost effective compared to human postal worker driving, parking, and walking from door to door. That doesn't sound completely absurd to me.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:I don't understand by tlambert · · Score: 2

      This craze with delivery drones, or am I the only one who thinks it's overkill?

      I think if you have one company in a city that had the delivery franchise, and sold delivery services to everyone who wanted delivery services via drone, you could probably make it work, especially if you had limited flight corridors, they were rather silent, and you automated the traffic control. I think you'd also want delivery lock boxes that standard box sizes got delivered into, and the ability to text an access code to the recipient for them to collect their package - and oly theirs - from the lock box.

      In a suburban setting, you might be able to avoid the lock box, and it'd be an excellent replacement for "waiters on wheels" or similar concierge/courier food delivery (and likely cheaper).

    4. Re:I don't understand by Immerman · · Score: 2

      How much time (=money) is wasted by the UPS guy parking and carrying a package up to your door? The truck could instead be outfitted with a dozen drones so the UPS guy just stops, loads all the small packages for a several block radius, and then starts plugging in the returning drones as he finishes with the last of the loading. You could easily double or even quadruple the number of deliveries per man-hour that way - and annual drone expenses are going to become far less than annual wages, if they aren't already. On down the line you automate the truck and the drone-loading as well and you can do the job without paying a delivery guy at all. Humans need only attend to the large, fragile, etc. packages. Probably need three, maybe four delivery guys to service the greater Manhattan area.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    5. Re:I don't understand by unrtst · · Score: 1

      Agreed.
      Maybe there will be certain neighborhoods that can be designed so this will work well, and they can be labeled as such and given drone priority shipping or something. I have trouble picturing any environment where this would work well, let alone better than a mailman (unless your particular mailman is especially poor at his job, but that's a different problem).

    6. Re:I don't understand by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Only if postal workers are overpaid relative to the value of their skills.

    7. Re:I don't understand by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Probably need three, maybe four delivery guys to service the greater Manhattan area.

      Because the drones will enter office buildings and deliver packages door-to-door and collect signatures?

    8. Re:I don't understand by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Only if postal workers are overpaid relative to the value of their skills.

      Why would the per hour cost of the drone be higher than even a minimum wage worker?
      The drone can work more than one shift.
      The drone doesn't take vacations.
      The drone doesn't waste time chatting with co-workers.

    9. Re:I don't understand by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Because the drones will enter office buildings and deliver packages door-to-door and collect signatures?

      UPS and FedEx allow me to pre-sign for packages via their website.

    10. Re:I don't understand by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      The drone doesn't waste time chatting with co-workers.

      ... or posting on Slashdot :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    11. Re:I don't understand by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      The thing is that automation reduces the value of their skills. You could pay someone to dig a ditch, or you can use a backhoe. One only has to look around to see that the backhoe is a lot more cost effective.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    12. Re:I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would the per hour cost of the drone be higher than even a minimum wage worker?

      High initial cost, batteries/fuel, insurance, repairs, plus the need for someone to drive the drone close to the destination and load it up with packages and take care of problems and deliver when the weather isn't perfect and deliver when the packages are too heavy or too bulky.

      How much do you think minimum wage is?

      The drone can work more than one shift.

      Package delivery is not shift work. No one receives deliveries at 2 AM.

      The drone doesn't take vacations.

      Package delivery drivers can be paid by the hour. I sincerely doubt they get paid vacation time.

      The drone doesn't waste time chatting with co-workers.

      Delivery guys are alone in their trucks. There are no co-workers to chat with.

    13. Re:I don't understand by Kohath · · Score: 1

      But the backhoe operator is paid a lot more than the shovel operator. Because automation boosted his productivity by 50-100x.

      I don't think drones can boost package delivery productivity enough to even pay for the drone itself -- unless the people delivering the packages are artificially overpaid by 5-10x already.

    14. Re:I don't understand by Kohath · · Score: 2

      I'm the guy arguing that employing people for package delivery is more economical that employing robots.

    15. Re: I don't understand by NigelTheFrog · · Score: 2

      If this were some private delivery company I'd agree with you, but we're talking about the U.S. Government here. USPS delivery people are federal employees. Federal employees have some of the best benefits in this country. They are not cheap to employ.

    16. Re:I don't understand by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      What about installing tubes to each and every door? They did it for people on Futurama, I don't see why it couldn't work for packages a thousand years earlier.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    17. Re:I don't understand by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      The drone doesn't waste time chatting with co-workers.

      Not until they install G.P.P.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    18. Re:I don't understand by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      But the backhoe operator is paid a lot more than the shovel operator. Because automation boosted his productivity by 50-100x.

      Yes, and he displaced x number of workers in the process. On the other hand, his increased productivity allows projects which previously were cost prohibitive, so he creates some more good jobs at the expense of those very low-end jobs.

      I don't think drones can boost package delivery productivity enough to even pay for the drone itself -- unless the people delivering the packages are artificially overpaid by 5-10x already.

      I think you are probably right with today's technology, but this area has been progressing very quickly. Package delivery is not something that really requires a human, so it is ripe for automation. When we get to the point where regular people are being chauffeured around by self-driving cars, it is a bit insane to imagine a man hand-delivering letters to fixed locations every day.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    19. Re:I don't understand by Holi · · Score: 1

      That pretty much negates the reason for signatures. In fact if I required a signature for delivery and they allowed you to "pre-sign" on the web. I would consider that a violation of my agreement with them as the shipper. (you have no relationship with UPS as the recipient, as I am their customer not you).

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    20. Re:I don't understand by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      That pretty much negates the reason for signatures.

      No it doesn't. If I pre-sign, then I can't later claim I didn't receive the package. But I would rather pay for another shipment than stay home from work.

      In fact if I required a signature for delivery and they allowed you to "pre-sign" on the web. I would consider that a violation of my agreement with them as the shipper

      If I am accepting responsibility, then why do you care? Maybe you should stop checking the "signature required" box every time you ship someone a $4 thumb drive.

    21. Re:I don't understand by Power_Pentode · · Score: 1

      Why would the per hour cost of the drone be higher than even a minimum wage worker?
      The drone can work more than one shift.
      The drone doesn't take vacations.
      The drone doesn't waste time chatting with co-workers.

      The drone is out there.
      The drone can't be bargained with.
      The drone can't be reasoned with.
      The drone doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear.
      And the drone absolutely will not stop, ever, until the parcel is delivered!

  3. And I will follow the van and capture them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then I can reprogram them to do MY bidding.

    1. Re:And I will follow the van and capture them by Drathos · · Score: 1

      You forgot the "Muhahahahahaha!"

      --
      End of line..
  4. What a time to be alive... by wbr1 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Or dead...

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new...

    CAUTION: Please wait until noise has receded before checking your mail.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:What a time to be alive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The world will move on

    2. Re:What a time to be alive... by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Don't turn this into a competition to Google for deaths by postal truck!

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:What a time to be alive... by Lothsahn · · Score: 1

      Yes, because the octocopter they plan to use is completely like the Trex 700N 3D aerobatic rc helicopter that killed Pirozek...

      The Trex 700N is an aerobatic flying lawnmower, with no shield or guard to prevent you from hitting the blade. They are extremely dangerous and are not toys.

      The octocopter's blades are much smaller and have way less momentum. Unless the octocopter hit you in the eye or fell from an extreme height, there's virtually no way to cause permanent damage with the octocopter. Many quad/octo copters have guards to prevent contact with the blade. A final version for the USPS might include some safety guards.

      Note: I fly RC helicopters and planes.

      --
      -=Lothsahn=-
    4. Re:What a time to be alive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... there's virtually no way to cause permanent damage with the octocopter.

      As a fellow RC pilot who flies a 700 size single rotor, and a 550 size quad, with only 1kg lift capacity beyond the bird itself. You're sorely mistaken thinking a multirotor, especially at the size that can carry a package, can /absolutely/ cause permanent injury or death.

      Please don't fly anything near me...

  5. but will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But will it be able to deliver mail to the White house?

  6. Public education creates, private company profits? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    >> Workhorse Group Inc....their octocopter drone delivery system, developed by the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science.

    Can someone explain this part? On the surface it just looks like "public education creates, private company profits."

  7. Re:Public education creates, private company profi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It happens all the time. Universities often "give" IP to their on-payroll inventors, or license them out to companies for ridiculously low fees, like $500 + 0% profit share. I'm not saying that's the case here - it's possible the university is getting a percentage of all proceeds.

    Huge waste of taxpayer money, I know.

    Source: My spouse works in a university IP licensing department.

  8. So about 8' from my front door? by Quarters · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That thing is freaking huge. Each copter arm has to be at least 4' - 5' long. Factor in the roof overhang over my front door, and the landscaping, and the closest this thing could get a package to my doorstep would be about 8' away, but that puts it right into another landscaped area. So, my packages will either be somewhere in my front yard or on my driveway. All of this just so a postal worker doesn't have to get up out of a seat and walk the package all the way to my door?

    PROGRESS!

    1. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by funwithBSD · · Score: 5, Funny

      That is why it is equipped with a small catapult.

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    2. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by boristdog · · Score: 3, Funny

      You are probably not the target market for this since you live in a densely populated area.

      I live in an area where the spacing between houses averages over a quarter-mile in any direction. I would love for a drone to deliver my packages instead of the lazy delivery driver just saying "address doesn't exist" or "cannot find address" because they don't want to drive down my road.

      It might annoy my donkey, though, but I'll risk coming home to an annoyed donkey in exchange for actually getting my packages.

    3. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      I'd like to know how they charge that many lipo's wirelessly in 2 minutes. My fucking 2s lipos, nowhere near what this thing would require, take 20 minutes for a 1000 mAh pack.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    4. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      The drone in that photo is closer than the truck... It's called perspective. Look into it.

      Get it? Cause, perspective?

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    5. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by unrtst · · Score: 1

      I live in an area where the spacing between houses averages over a quarter-mile in any direction. I would love for a drone to deliver my packages instead of the lazy delivery driver just saying "address doesn't exist" or "cannot find address" because they don't want to drive down my road.

      These things are cool and all that, but I don't see them being good for your case either. Just how far do you think they can travel with a big package? And how many of those deliveries can they make before their battery is dead? And how would that be more efficient than just driving that 1/4 mile? Your mailman just needs replaced.

      On the other side of the scale, in tightly packed downtown areas, they're also virtually useless. You've got a bunch of people so close that it's a 10 - 20 foot walk between multi-family brownstones, or even residential buildings with LOTS AND LOTS of people (where you're going to be much better off carting in all the mail and stuffing into the already-centralized mailboxes).

      The person you replied to is, IMO, in the most ideal location, and yet he'd still have lots of issues (where is that package going to go?).

      This idea has such a small niche. It seems to me that the only reason anyone is interested is because it's like magic to them... they don't understand it, they didn't understand computers either, and they don't want to miss out (or they're making money off it, or huge RC nerds).

    6. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Nah, it just flies as low as it safely can and drops the package on your sidewalk - what's one more impact in the standard package-mangling regime?

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    7. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I realize this is slashdot and all, but asking "And how many of those deliveries can they make before their battery is dead?" when it is right there in the summary ('can recharge wirelessly in two minutes') is just... wow.

      You basically entirely discredit your post even if you make other points because you appear stupid.

    8. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by funwithBSD · · Score: 1

      I think you are right there.

      In rural areas, the house might be a significant distance from the road. I know the family farmhouse is at least 1/4 mile from the road, which means packages must be picked up at the post office, or at the UPS store in town.

      Sending a drone to get even close to the house would be easy, and unlike in a urban/sub-urban area there is a lot of area that is not casually visible from the road.

      I can see a marker of some sort to give the drone an idea of where you want it to drop things off. A simple post with a simple pattern would probably enough for the drone to figure it out.
      Heck, a series of reflective markers could give it a suggested flight path to make sure it does not piss off the donkey, wake up the baby, or get too close to your cherry tree and knock off flowers with the backwash.
       

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    9. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      How much to you think it costs to employ a rural delivery driver? How many packages to you think rural people receive? (Exclude heavy or bulky packages, anything delivered in bad weather, anything that requires a signature, etc.) How much do you think autonomous flying drones (big enough to carry a substantial package) cost?

      Think about it. How long will it take the drone to pay for itself?

    10. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      Im 90% sure that image is a mockup. The link to Federal times has a much more realistic image.

      The Federal Times also notes that the drone is 10 lbs, which further cements my belief that the massive drone in the picture is a mockup or test device.

    11. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

      That is why it is equipped with a small catapult.

      Obligatory xkcd

    12. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by schlachter · · Score: 2

      it will not only drop off your package at your door but it will also trim your hedges....and trees...and roof...and head if your too close.

      --
      My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
    13. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Something is missing, this eliminates any "wrong doing" by the postal worker and instead lays it on to a machine.

    14. Re:So about 8' from my front door? by Holi · · Score: 1

      And if they are using rapid charge technology, how long do they expect those batteries to last?

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  9. Horseflies by MancunianMaskMan · · Score: 1

    Everybody's least favourite insect. Terrific branding!

  10. HA HA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Q: What Has Four Legs and Flies?
    A: A horse in summer times!

  11. Re:Public education creates, private company profi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pick your poison. Let creative people create and profit from their creations or have a college full of uninspired instructors who haven't seen a regular industry in decades.

    There are a lot of alternatives to my either/or scenario that involve some sort of profit sharing and that is probably what happened here - but since you started with a black and white scenario I thought I'd end it with one.

  12. obligatory Dilbert by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    http://webcache.googleusercont...

  13. man i need that Toilet paper stat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    send a done delivery (a la hunger games)

    1. Re:man i need that Toilet paper stat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hunger Games? Really?

  14. Finally... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My mail might be delivered correctly. I was going to glue 10ft numbers to the front of my house since the postman doesn't know how to read numbers.

  15. Guard dogs? by tomhath · · Score: 1

    When my dog barked at the UPS guy he reached into his pocket and handed the dog a biscuit; dog ran off happy and the UPS guy never broke stride.

    I'm not sure would happen if one of those things tried to deliver a package.

  16. Droning on and on and on and on... by swschrad · · Score: 1

    guess I better start figuring whether hydraulics or steam pistons would be the best way to build a HorseFly Swatter. I can dismantle an Audi for the radar, provided I find one in the open when it's dark....

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:Droning on and on and on and on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because imposing your insane will on others is worth going to jail for?

  17. Steampunk it! by HighOrbit · · Score: 1

    I'd love to see a city/neighborhood install pnumantic tubes for instant delivery. Its a 19th century technology that is proven and feasable but is strangely seldom used. Just laydown 1/3m (12 in) plastic piping, have machine addressable containers, and install electric-mechanical sorters/routers at each node that can read the addresses and kick the container into the correct junction. One the receving end, the receiver would put the empty container back into the system and it would be routed back to the origin or next node calling for an empty. You could have a payment system for container rental/transport.

    There would be an inital install cost, but that would be recouped by the cheap operation.

    Order milk and a loaf of bread from the grocery and have it delivered to your door in 10 minutes. Mail could be put into the system at the post office and be delivered to the door without a carrier.

  18. Drones hit mainstream by recharged95 · · Score: 1

    I want to see proof. Photos of a hovering drone says nothing nowadays. ...and especially from a penny stock company that appears to be teaming up with a university to push gov't SBAS contracts. Oh, the gov't cash cow!

    Really, even Google's '8 guys surrounding a drone' video doesn't show autonomous capability--though their cars are a different story (i.e. real).

    Nowadays, I see 9 or 10 companies touting fully autonomous flight, redundancy and delivery, RTF, ready to go, 1hr flight, 1min charge--I want to see a 1 min video of an actual test of a real use case: drive up, 2lbs payload, launch to delivery to land, to recharging, no setup and one-touch. It's very possible to create content of that, but I don't see any...

    Then really, a drone on top of a truck--I see things (IMU) shifting off calibration, sand-papering the props, dust-n-dirt, sun damage, and them some. You put skis on top of a truck, not precision electronic devices.

  19. Does the FAA know? by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

    This thing fails a number of the FAA's requirements. While it *is* line of sight, it is not being controlled by a certified pilot. How has the college been flying it?