Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: RD on 02/12/2013 08:32:54
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Amazon air delivery ? ...
[ Hey you could could fit a burger in one of those orange boxes ]
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Cute.
My guess is that the application will be limited, but perhaps this will come in the "future". What will the range be?
In the comments, someone suggested pizza and meal delivery.
Usually I am happy to wait a week for the stuff I buy on the internet. However, there is always the situation where I find myself short a tool or a bolt, and debating on whether it is worth a trip to town vs making something else do. Designed right, it could be handy for that one bolt that one needs to complete a project to just arrive in a half hour.
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The more of these things in the air, the more deaths there will be when they fail and land on people.
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If you live in a high-rise building will the mini-copter hover outside your tenth floor window ? [:)]
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Safety would have to be a concern. No flying in hurricanes.
I suppose one might compare the safety of the hovercraft vs driving 10 miles to hunt down that one bolt that one needs. To be cost effective, the system would have to be 99% automated, so no "pilot" to react to emergencies. Probably best to be 99% autonomous, rather than relying on radio guidance.
Applications in rural areas would be good due to the "cost" of the commute. However, one may need the population density from urban/suburban areas to support the warehouses and distribution infrastructures.
Apartment or office building delivery would be a problem. A sidewalk would be inappropriate for a drop. Perhaps one could put in rooftop helipads.
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The blades of petrol-powered model choppers can chop off fingers , even decapitate ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2413231/Roman-Pirozek-Jr-Man-decapitates-remote-control-helicopter.html
but I don't know who much damage these smaller electric ones could do.
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They could improve the safety of the choppers by putting a ring around the blades. However, no doubt customers will try doing something stupid.
The helicopter design would depend on the expected payload & range. Delivering 10 lbs of cargo for a 20 mile radius (40 mile RT) would require quite a sophisticated device. Some cities in the USA are truly HUGE.
Of course, shopping isn't without its perils. Just last week, a woman and her child were trampled in Walmart (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/29/Two-Trampled-at-Ohio-Walmart-One-a-Child).
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They could improve the safety of the choppers by putting a ring around the blades. However, no doubt customers will try doing something stupid.
Indeed so. It would appear that some men have a weird and uncontrolable compulsion to put their (Ahem.......) dangley thing into such contraptions.
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There could be a problem if your delivery annoys the neighbours.......(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.directsmiley.com%2Fcat%2F10%2F10_2_25.gif&hash=69e447b45cdb9c30d0dd11bab9d03dd8)
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/02/amazons-drones-and-the-rise-of-ostentatious-rd/