Slashdot Mirror
Domino's Will Deliver Pizza By Drone and By Robot (roboticstrends.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes CNN Money's report that "pizzas will soon be dropping from the heavens":
Domino's demonstrated its ability to deliver food via a drone Thursday in New Zealand and plans to test actual deliveries to customers next month. "It doesn't add up to deliver a two kilogram package in a two-ton vehicle," said Scott Bush, a general manager for Domino's Pizza Enterprises, which is independent of the U.S. chain and operates in seven countries. "In Auckland, we have such massive traffic congestion it just makes sense to take to the airways."
A Domino's customer who requests a drone delivery will receive a notification when their delivery is approaching. After going outside and hitting a button on their smartphone, the drone will lower the food via a tether. Once the package is released, the drone pulls the tether back up and flies back to the Domino's store.
Robotics Trends has video from the flight, and reports that Domino's is also testing a pizza-delivering robot. Their Domino's Robotics Unit "has four wheels, is less than three feet tall, and has a heated compartment that can hold up to 10 pizzas. It can deliver pizzas within a 12.5-mile radius before needing to be recharged."
A Domino's customer who requests a drone delivery will receive a notification when their delivery is approaching. After going outside and hitting a button on their smartphone, the drone will lower the food via a tether. Once the package is released, the drone pulls the tether back up and flies back to the Domino's store.
Robotics Trends has video from the flight, and reports that Domino's is also testing a pizza-delivering robot. Their Domino's Robotics Unit "has four wheels, is less than three feet tall, and has a heated compartment that can hold up to 10 pizzas. It can deliver pizzas within a 12.5-mile radius before needing to be recharged."
I know you are going for funny point mods, but the real advantage here to Dominos is that NO gratuity is expected at all. If the price is the same then they will sell far more pizzas as people won't have to worry about tipping enough, or being dressed well enough to greet a stranger at the door, or have the front living room clean enough as said pizza person casually stares past you as you fumble for your wallet. Just talking to a stranger is a task for some socially awkward people. It will be perceived as safer also. No one casing your home as they deliver pizza. When you factor in the energy and gas savings and once it is perfected I bet the per mile cost is 1/10th the amount with a delivery person.
Yes jobs will be lost. Drudge jobs we as a society shouldn't be expecting people to live by. As for students, their time is better spent studying than trying to pick a few extra bucks, because like it or not, the no skill jobs are going away. Even many skilled jobs are in peril. This will be an awkward 10-50 years as we learn to adapt society to a not-everyone-has-to-work society. Corny as Star Trek's 'we work to better ourselves' slogan is, the only non-dystopian future will have to be this way -- where you are not compensated for the work you provide, but by how well you prove you are constantly learning and helping society as a whole, and yes for same that will be a regular job kind of work, but for most it will be community service and continuing education.
Letter To Iran
"It doesn't add up to deliver a two kilogram package in a two-ton vehicle"... yes, that's why the rest of the world uses motor scooters for pizza deliveries.