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USPS Shortlists 'HorseFly' Octocopter Drone Delivery Service
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.
the customers (snail mail spammers) pay for this?
http://www.nydailynews.com/new...
CAUTION: Please wait until noise has receded before checking your mail.
Silence is a state of mime.
But will it be able to deliver mail to the White house?
>> 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."
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!
Everybody's least favourite insect. Terrific branding!
http://webcache.googleusercont...
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.
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).
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.
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.
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).
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?
Only if postal workers are overpaid relative to the value of their skills.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
You forgot the "Muhahahahahaha!"
End of line..
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.
I'm the guy arguing that employing people for package delivery is more economical that employing robots.
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.
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.
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.
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
Not until they install G.P.P.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!