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Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
41–50 of 149 posts
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#42There's a better video of the drones here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prhDrfUgpB0 Google's delivery drones combine a multirotor design with fixed-wings. It seems like an eminently sensible design to me; fixed-wing operation will be quieter and more power-efficient, allowing longer travel distances (unlike the early Amazon Prime Air videos [1]), while hover capability avoids the need to parachute the load (unlike…
Hadn't heard of Zipline. And when I read it I imagined a simple cableway with small autonomous cars zipping along the line, possibly with branching points. I suspect it would be way cheaper to set up as an infrastructure and much more reliable than drones.
We're talking about drones which can serve an area of 7800 sq miles (20000 km²), going at over 60mph (100km/h), across rivers and mountains inaccessible by vehicles.
I don't think there's any way you could even install enough poles and cables to cover such an extension, let alone keeping them functioning without permanent maintenance teams trekking across the peaks. Plus all that would fail exactly when you need it the most: after a big storm, when the roads are impassable and even walking is difficult.
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#43I personally expect that the first successful drone delivery service will be implemented by some sophisticated drug dealers because unlike with all these drone delivery services, they would need to be quiet and reliably deliver products instead of publicity.
Chose one: - quiet - drone
That's only true for multi-rotors. Fixed-wing drones can be fairly quiet.
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Current deaddrop schemes seem to be working quite well, drones would be much easier to target than just a random person walking around.
Don't drones have to be controlled from a certain distance? Most prisons around here are in remote areas, so if you see car pulled over on the side of the road near a prison, maybe they are flying a drone to deliver contraband.
4G drones have been around for a while, you can control them from anywhere.
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#45Ignoring the noise, politics, and financial feasibility of this, we sure are living in the damn future.
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Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hadn't heard of Zipline. And when I read it I imagined a simple cableway with small autonomous cars zipping along the line, possibly with branching points. I suspect it would be way cheaper to set up as an infrastructure and much more reliable than drones.
Drones don't really require infrastructure though? They don't require any setup at the physical locations, and they have a pretty obstacle free path above the trees. Zipline would require infrastructure setup on the scale of roads/telephone lines to be useful wouldn't it?
Yep. But it seems it would be rather cheap to set up an infrastructure made principally of steel towers and (thin) cables, and there shouldn't be many technological challenges. It would be probably faster, more reliable and energy efficient than drones, allowing for heavier packages. Of course at the cost of having to build an infrastructure, and maybe of a smaller, fixed number of delivery points.
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if the winch is to prevent people nicking the drone.
Why would they? How often are delivery trucks stolen, for example?
A better example could be electric scooters, which are indeed stolen sometimes, but apparently not enough to kill the various operator businesses (lime etc).
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#48Wow that noise is terrifying. Compare: https://youtu.be/oU4Rk0NATNs?t=168
Or the Mike Patton version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgex1ukrsko
Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra
#49There's a better video of the drones here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prhDrfUgpB0 Google's delivery drones combine a multirotor design with fixed-wings. It seems like an eminently sensible design to me; fixed-wing operation will be quieter and more power-efficient, allowing longer travel distances (unlike the early Amazon Prime Air videos [1]), while hover capability avoids the need to parachute the load (unlike…
Is it possible to use a drone with a balloon on top to help it lift more? Or does that make it too susceptible to wind? Maybe if we have to dome our cities and thus have no wind to disrupt the drone. I wonder if it would be cheaper to use a small electric self-driving car like a mobile version of the amazon locker?
> Is it possible to use a drone with a balloon on top to help it lift more?
That's essentially a blimp. Due to square/cube scaling, blimps have less lift and more drag relative to their size at small scales than large ones. The extra power needed to overcome the drag would by far negate the power savings from reduced lifting requirements.