Amazon Drones Now UPS Drones

Gary McCray December 4, 2013 at 4:44pm

Hey Joe and Quadzi,

I think you have captured the true spirit of free enterprise in your proposals.

Venture capitalists everywhere are standing in line to get behind this.

Personally I like the simple silent bombardment and group oriented manual operation of the Trebuchet, but I think rail guns have a future as well. To bad Gerald Bull isn't around to see this, he was hoping to build a gun to launch satellites and that could certainly provide express delivery direct from China - - - Or perhaps start World War 3.

criro1999 December 4, 2013 at 7:14am

Opengrab is an " Electro Permanent Magnet".

It will affect the compass, not a good solution.

Jethro Hazelhurst December 4, 2013 at 6:32am

A super efficient pickup coil such as this:https://code.google.com/p/opengrab/ Would be much better suited for carrying payloads!!

Quadzimodo December 3, 2013 at 9:00pm

I am not completely up on all the technical details, but I think that DARPA is working on the hypersonic guidance system (might have to wait for confirmation on that one from Snowden).... oh, and a mate told me that AusPost are going to be ready by 2014 (Initially, it will be rolled out in State Forests and National Parks across New South Wales, with other states and territories to follow).

Quadzimodo December 3, 2013 at 8:48pm

The vast and sparsely populated Australian continent demands a very different approach to revolution parcel delivery.

Australian Post understand this, as well as the fact that the relevant laws and policies governing the use of firearms are far less problematic to navigate and/or to manipulate...

The public are also far less concerned about bullets flying around above their heads than drones, and with guns laws sliding south at this point... I guess it just makes perfect sense!

Gary McCray December 3, 2013 at 7:51pm

I think the USPS has just taken a commanding lead, probably nothing bigger than a washing machine though.

Cliff-E December 3, 2013 at 7:51pm

May want to check out the verge article instead. The Engadget one, as usual, just uncontrolled hype, rumors, smoke and mirrors. Even DJI gets comments in that one (and about GPS faults ;P ).

And UPS is looking into drone technology, but that of it's big airline fleet. Automated landing using WAAS, runway management, monitoring flight paths via satellite telemetry (aka Iriduium/Orbcomm/etc...) conveyor belt alternatives are all things that come with the FAA new regs in the next few years and would greatly increase efficiency (especially autonomous runway management) for their operations.

As for drones, they would be the ones more successful since they have the wireless logistical network to support it where as Amazon hasn't even scratched the surface.

And guys, it's all in R&D stages currently. Be happy about it.

Quadzimodo December 3, 2013 at 7:17pm

My money is on the USPS trebuchet.

Joe Breznai December 3, 2013 at 6:46pm

Looks like the USPS is in the game, reportedly for something less than 800 million dollars too. !