Tag Archives: delivery drones

Google’s Wing drone delivery to have double the payload with new drone

Posted on by

Since I live in a country where package delivery by drone is still something straight out of a futuristic movie, it’s fascinating to see how there are places where they are trying to make this the norm. Google’s parent company Alphabet is one of the early adapters with their drone delivery arm Wing, spanning three continents and more than 350,000 deliveries in those places where it’s available. Now they want to expand, literally, with a larger drone that can make deliveries even more convenient.

Designer: Wing

This new drone is still so new that it doesn’t have a name yet. But what is sure is that it will be able to double the payload of the original drone so there will be no need to use two drones to deliver larger orders. According to their data, 30% of their U.S orders require more than one drone and so there is a need for something that will be able to deliver twice what it usually can, saving on the customer’s money and the company’s logistics.

The new drone will be able to carry up to 5 pounds on 12 sm flights while cruising at 65 mph. While it has the same range and speed as the original Wing drone, this new one can carry double as the former is only able to carry up to 2.5 lbs. It will still use the combination of vertical takeoff and landing and precision hovering with fixed wings as it cruises to the delivery address.

The Wing Delivery Network will continue to expand and get more people and companies to use their service. They are now able to do computer tracking as compared to the human intervention previously so the drones can actually do longer routes. And with the still unnamed new drone, they can do heavier loads for those who may need more stuff delivered.

The post Google’s Wing drone delivery to have double the payload with new drone first appeared on Yanko Design.

Medical delivery drone ensures that life-saving drugs easily reach people affected by quarantines

Posted on by

Although designed for urban setups, the Medicine Delivery Drone’s main focus is on urban residents who cannot step out on their own to buy medicines. The drone, designed specifically for carrying pills, can travel between a pharmacy and a residence, dropping off life-saving medicines without any effort on the part of the patient.

The drone was designed as a response to the strict Zero Covid policy instituted in China, where lockdowns are imposed to help curb the virus, often affecting the ability for people with serious ailments to step out and buy medicines. In such situations, the drone does the job for them, fulfilling prescription requirements by shuttling between nearby pharmacies and the recipients. “This is a convenient drone based on air delivery of drugs in the post-epidemic period”, says designer Afu. “It has functions such as carrying drugs and contactless distribution.”

Designer: Afu

The fleet of drones works in partnership with pharmacies through a smartphone app that also tracks prescriptions as well as fulfills orders. The drone arrives at residences and automatically opens its lid to reveal the contents within. All the user has to do is lift the contents out of the drone and the lid shuts automatically. The drone then takes off, traveling back to the pharmacy for a battery charge and to fulfill the next order.

The drone boasts a relatively compact design, measuring 33 cm or a little more than a foot across. The body of the drone is hollow, allowing it to hold up to two packets of medicines. The delivery drone uses a set of cameras as eyes, being able to navigate spaces comfortably, although the designer took the unusual route of making the drone foldable, which seems like an unnecessary feature. This also means the rotors don’t come with guards that protect it against accidents, or the recipients against potential injury from spinning fans.

The post Medical delivery drone ensures that life-saving drugs easily reach people affected by quarantines first appeared on Yanko Design.

Google’s sister company Wing designs drones to handle diverse payloads and the logistics industry can’t wait

Posted on by

Drones are already playing a matchless part in photography and videography, and they were supposed to revolutionize the logistics industry invariably. Delivery of goods using drones has not taken off as presumed when Amazon, for instance, tried testing the possibility. True, the aviation and government norms play a curbing part but majorly the limitation of payload capacity of drones is what has created a bottleneck to the inventive technique for small-scale experiments.

Amazon and Uber (in the near future) are likely to set up large-scale operations focusing on drones for delivery. Readying its fleet of flyers for that future, Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Wing has unveiled drone prototypes that will be capable of delivering cargo weighing as little as half a pound and as much as 7 pounds. This variation in weight means a tailored aircraft is necessary for several payloads: for instance, a drone designed to deliver prescription medication is not ideal for delivering a gallon of milk or a heavier package like a refrigerator.

Designer: Wing

It has been found that almost 90 percent of the drone deliveries happening today are of payloads weighing up to five pounds. Therefore, Wing’s idea of larger-sized drones that can manage heavier deliveries is a welcome message for the lingering industry. The company’s appropriately-sized fleet of aircrafts for appropriate packages will share the company’s existing design philosophy, which the company has been testing globally by way of Hummingbird – its flagship drone. Wing claims this drone can carry up to 2 pounds and has made thousands of delivers across the globe.

In the video, Wing shows off its new, different-sized drones including the industry-leading one capable of seven pounds of payload. The smaller one on display can take off with as little as 0.6 pounds. Therefore, what Wing has achieved is a drone fleet capable of efficiently delivering packages including small pill bottles to those weighing as much as 7 pounds, which should give logistic partners a wide variety of options to choose from.

The post Google’s sister company Wing designs drones to handle diverse payloads and the logistics industry can’t wait first appeared on Yanko Design.

10 Futuristic Drone Concepts & Designs

Posted on by

Technology has been moving so fast that new devices and machines emerged to better help people. Take for example, the evolution of communication devices — from pagers to candy bar phones to the many variations of smartphones and tablets we see today — brought better and better features and enhancements. 

And technology has moved far beyond than that: now, advanced technology mechanisms are used everywhere, such as in creating the likes of autonomous vehicles, in which the most popular at the moment are aerial vehicles we know today as drones. And now drones have become so popular that individuals and companies alike have found tons of possibles uses for then. Here are some of the drone ideas we found:

GoPro’s Karma Drone

Image via: GoPro

There had been a lot of camera drones out there in the market today. And of course, GoPro, the company famous for manufacturing action cameras, won’t allow itself to get left behind. GoPro just launched its Karma system, which it says is a compact and foldable drone system that can actually fit in the back pack that is included in the package. The company has begun to make the Karma system available on its website and in select sellers in Europe and is sold for €999.99, or €1399.99, if with HERO5.

Amazon’s Prime Air Delivery Drone

Image via: Amazon

I recently watched “Storks,” that animated film where storks (yes, the kind of bird) actually delivered packages to customers. Interesting idea, indeed, but we can’t expect storks to actually deliver us packages. But drones can. This e-commerce giant, Amazon, proves that they are aggressive in making delivery faster for each of its customers and decided to work on  drones that can deliver your orders in less than an hour. Currently, the drones are in private trial to select customers. We’ll just have to wait for this to fully rollout. After all, it already has begun its first delivery last December.

Natilus: Cargo Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

Another startup based in California, wants to make a similar attempt to that of Amazon, but bigger. The company, Natilus, came up with an idea of autonomous and amphibious drones that could transport upto 200,000 pounds cargo. Yes, it intends to operate similar to cargo planes at a much cheaper cost!

Jet Capsule’s UFO-inspired drone

Image via: Jet Capsule

This drone looks like a spacecraft that’s similar to those extraterrestrial films I’ve seen before. Though the company behind this idea, Jet Capsule, seems to project the drone as a ship-like vessel that would float on water.

This drone, called UFO, is intended to offer better amenities than your typical private jet, offering a transformable kitchen, a living and dining area, as well as a bedroom, within the two-storey architecture of the drone. This could also be our doomsday escape, if this eventually gets built out as it has a water generator that can covert rain and sea water into potable drinking water. 

Ehang 184 Autonomous Aerial Drone

Image via: http://www.ehang.com/ehang184/

We may also see a similar transportation service drone in Dubai soon. Called EHang 184, this drone is shaped like an egg and can carry a one person with a maximum weight of 220 pounds. That person can also carry a small suitcase or bag with him. Interestingly, this drone had already been tested to fly over Burj al-Arab and is expected to fly around in the Middle Eastern country in July.

Plan Bee Drone

Image via: Cnet

Meanwhile, this drone is made to grow your garden in style. Created by a college student, Plan Bee is a drone that’s intended to artificially pollinate flowers. Now, drones are not only replacing tasks of humans, but also of insects, huh?

Skeeter: Dragonfly biomimetric microdrone for surveillance

Image via: TechCrunch

Another participant in the animal-inspired drone is this biomimetric microdrone that is intended to look like a dragonfly. Conceptualized by British company Animal Dynamics, they wanted a drone that could mimic a dragonfly, including the wing-flapping movement the insect does. The tiny drone called Skeeter, which is expected to weigh just less than 30 grams, is intended cor covert surveillance  While still in testing phase, the company expects to have the machine fly in the next two to three months.

SkyOne: Oil Rig-Inspecting Drones

Image via: S

Drones are totally trying to address various problems across different industries. Another proof of that is Canadian company SkyX’s SkyOne craft, which is intended to inspect any damages gas and oil pipelines, thereby avoiding any catastrophic events, such as explosions from gas leaks. Something pipeline builders could definitely invest to.

DogDrones: Poo Scooper Drones
Image via: The Sun UK

Image via: The Sun UK

Too tired of cleaning up your dog’s mess? Here’s the drone for you! DogDrones consist of a fair of drones. First is the WatchDog 1, an aerial drone that has the capability to spot the dog poo through heat sensors, which would be detected by the installed camera. Once spotted, it will send signals to its tandem drone, Patroldog 1, which will move towards the poo and sweep it up. Problem solved! The drones are concepts of a Dutch based startup. While the idea is still in the early stages of development, all we have to do is wait and manually do the job for now.

Sea Lice-Killing Underwater Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

While most drones are built for aerial purposes, there are also a few ones made for under the water. This one’s especially tailored to solve a certain issue in salmon farming in Norway — sea lice. Apparently, salmon farmers have been spending tons of money to battle against these parasites. So, Stingray Marine Solutions developed an underwater drone to help solve their dilemma. The drone is built with an image-recognition technology to detect sea lice and to throw out a laser pulse that will eventually kill them. How cool is that?