Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 149 posts

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#121

Post by bamboozled »

jrockway wrote: post #67
bamboozled wrote: post #52

It's difficult to imagine that this is ok from a privacy standpoint. I mean yes, the claim is that there is a "low-resolution fitted for debugging purposes", but why would Google stop there? There are now cameras flying around Canberra and there is seemingly not a single way for a civilian to differentiate between a Google delivery done or a fake drone used for spying. There will be no way for people to opt-out of th…

It is surprising to me that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. There are billions of Android users that appear to be browsing the web on their phones but are actually taking pictures of you (you personally!) and uploading them to Google. There are planes flying around taking pictures. There are drones flying around taking pictures. There are satellites flying around taking pictures. The cat is out of the…

There are not satellites taking photos of people as frequently or as in close proximity as these things will. Google would literally be able to identify even how healthy you’re looking by image classification.

To you’re point about Androids, yeah, it’s not healthy or good that the thing is effectively a data mining apparatus. So now, even if you decide to leave the phone at home to get some privacy, now you’re going to have to bring a disguise too.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#122

Post by ClassyJacket »

tdhoot wrote: post #65
hpkuarg wrote: post #39

133,000 Packages Lost as Google Cancels Wing Service in Midair

Doesn’t repeating this trope on every Google related topic get old? We get it, they cancel projects. Hahaha?

I think it's the beginning of a relevant discussion thread on any Google service. At this point it's such a significant problem with anything Google runs that we should be talking about it every time they launch something.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#123

Post by jpm_sd »

nickparker wrote: post #98
ansible wrote: post #84

The design of the drones is interesting. I've though that the original Project Wing design (flying wing that transitions 90 degrees for vertical hover) would have been more efficient. Or a larger version of the E-flite X-Vert VTOL: https://www.horizonhobby.com/x-vert-vtol-bnf-basic-efl1850?g...

I suspect they're still headed that way long term, and just went with this design to get testing ASAP because the pusher configuration has more challenges. The flip maneuver is difficult to integrate with their sky crane style system. You absolutely don't want to tilt your payload because that ruins lots of foods (coffee, pizza) so you either need some sort of pivot mechanism for your payload attachment smack dab in…

You are semi-correct. The tail sitter design was abandoned because it was too difficult/unstable to control while using the winch.

The core team that started Wing quit X awhile back and formed a new company, Skydio, which has built an incredibly cool drone for the purpose of high-tech narcissism:

https://www.skydio.com/

https://www.pcmag.com/review/366306/skydio-r1

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#124

Post by AlexCoventry »

ProblemFactory wrote: post #102
neaden wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think having what essentially would be small robot controlled fire-bombs flying through the skies would be a tough sell. Even if you managed to make them as safe as possible it's not exactly the kind of thing people would be eager to approve.

Current drone batteries are a much higher fire risk than a hydrogen blimp.

How would you set one alight? A fire arrow seems much simpler.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#125

Post by tuberelay »

Can engineers please critique the following idea:

Design city size "Spidercam" style delivery systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4

3-4 tall pylons with heavy duty winches and kevlar cable linked in the middle to hold a winch system that can lower a delivery box anywhere in the city.

1/4 inch kevlar rope weighs 2lb per 100ft, therefore a 2 mile kevlar rope would weigh 210lbs, but has a load bearing capacity of 9500lbs. So this system would allow accurate delivery anywhere in a 2mile x 2 mile area.

Potentially these could be coupled to allow transfer between areas to allow deliveries to be passed along a chain.

Multiple winches could be stacked on pylons to allow multiple sets of ropes, with winches which are near to delivery/pickup points moved downwards and to lower rope tension to avoid other winches/ropes bumping into them.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#126

Post by teraflop »

ProblemFactory wrote: post #102
neaden wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think having what essentially would be small robot controlled fire-bombs flying through the skies would be a tough sell. Even if you managed to make them as safe as possible it's not exactly the kind of thing people would be eager to approve.

Current drone batteries are a much higher fire risk than a hydrogen blimp.

It's worth noting that hydrogen is orders of magnitude more energy-dense, by mass, than lithium-ion batteries.

As a benchmark: the DJI Phantom weighs roughly 1kg, and its battery can store about 80kJ of electrical energy. I found a NASA study [1] which estimated that the energy released when a li-ion battery combusts is roughly 2x the usable energy capacity. So let's say that a battery fire would release 160kJ of energy.

In contrast, a balloon capable of lifting a 1kg drone would need about 830 liters of hydrogen, with a mass of 75 grams. That amount of hydrogen, if burned in room-temperature air, would release about 9MJ -- roughly 50x as much energy as a battery failure.

(Of course, most of the hydrogen would burn itself up quickly and harmlessly, assuming the balloon isn't flying near any flammable objects.)

[1]: https://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/pdf/TC-15-40.pdf

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#127

Post by derp_dee_derp »

tuberelay wrote: post #125

Can engineers please critique the following idea: Design city size "Spidercam" style delivery systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4 3-4 tall pylons with heavy duty winches and kevlar cable linked in the middle to hold a winch system that can lower a delivery box anywhere in the city. 1/4 inch kevlar rope weighs 2lb per 100ft, therefore a 2 mile kevlar rope would weigh 210lbs, but has a load bearing capa…

I can tell you why this will never be a thing:

the infrastructure cost is way too high. Not just the cost of materials and labor, either. I'm talking social, political, and environmental costs. people would fight this left and right.

Power lines are already considered an eye sore in many places and are required to be underground. good luck convincing people that a power line with a bunch of moving boxes on it is going to be any better. its essentially a gondola for packages and no one wants that in their backyard.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#128

Post by rtkwe »

tuberelay wrote: post #125

Can engineers please critique the following idea: Design city size "Spidercam" style delivery systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4 3-4 tall pylons with heavy duty winches and kevlar cable linked in the middle to hold a winch system that can lower a delivery box anywhere in the city. 1/4 inch kevlar rope weighs 2lb per 100ft, therefore a 2 mile kevlar rope would weigh 210lbs, but has a load bearing capa…

You'll have large shadows defined by where buildings are in relation to the pylons and the shuttle would not be able to descend below the roof line in many areas outside of a subdivision with low 2 story houses depending on how tall the towers are. In addition you can't really do this anywhere there is going to be air traffic with the current systems as you'll need to shut it down whenever a helicopter wants to fly through.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#129

Post by zapzupnz »

yaacov wrote: post #90
rhacker wrote: post #79

> Wing said the feedback obtained during its trials had been "valuable" and it hoped to "continue the dialogue". That's code for they have asked their lawyer to see what was legal and if they can simply ignore the complaints. We continue to wage war on silence. The other day I was far the heck out there on a trail and the only things I could hear were squirrels birds and a few other things. My soul was at peace. We c…

I don’t get anxiety from cities. I love cities. Your experience is common but not universal.

Indeed, I prefer noise. Silence makes me feel ill at ease, like nobody's around, like something terrible could happen and I have no recourse to anybody. I don't feel safe in silence, but whenever I tell anybody this, I'm poo-pooed as being silly.

Re: Google Wing will deliver to about 100 homes in Canberra

#130

Post by gordon_freeman »

I'm wondering what exactly Google will use this home delivery by drone tech for? Their Google Express service is nice but it's not their main business and this makes a lot more sense if it was launched by e-commerce giant like Amazon. I'm just wondering how Google will convert this tech in a viable business?
Post reply on HN