11–20 of 145 posts
It makes me happy to see that people are venturing out and building something that takes longer and has a higher failure rate that web apps/software.
Technology like this is why The Wall is a waste of money when it comes to deterring drug trafficking.
Now Trump might actually think it's a good idea - and I actually think he does - so that's absurd. But realistically it operates as a political beacon, and one that's quite effective.
Fine and dandy when flying over a desert but when the drone meets the city and an "autopilot" failure occurs over a freeway/highway/street or someone's head the consequences will be unforgivable.
Simple solution - mandate that drones are implemented with a parachute system, it's already being done on prop planes (cirrus)
Technology like this is why The Wall is a waste of money when it comes to deterring drug trafficking.
Of all the things I think this will really impact, I think food delivery and fresh ingredient delivery will be near the top of the list.
Emergency deliveries in rural areas are where this will be most useful. Getting medicine and mechanical parts to remote places during crisises is hard.
Of all the things I think this will really impact, I think food delivery and fresh ingredient delivery will be near the top of the list.
It's a little sad that people's first thoughts about tech like this is "It can bring me goods faster than FedEx!" That's such a trivial thing to use it for. Emergency deliveries in rural areas are where this will be most useful. Getting medicine and mechanical parts to remote places during crisises is hard .
My bet: the military/security/coast guard, for far off service posts (like when they put hydro wires way out in the middle of nowhere), offshore Oil, and for very specific things (i.e. medical equipment) for remote communities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a little sad that people's first thoughts about tech like this is "It can bring me goods faster than FedEx!" That's such a trivial thing to use it for. Emergency deliveries in rural areas are where this will be most useful. Getting medicine and mechanical parts to remote places during crisises is hard .
I think the simple economics of it would completely rule out this being used for 'fresh groceries' ... or rather only to people who want to pay 10x for their groceries. My bet: the military/security/coast guard, for far off service posts (like when they put hydro wires way out in the middle of nowhere), offshore Oil, and for very specific things (i.e. medical equipment) for remote communities.
There is room for this in the supply chain of many firms. There’s a lot of industries where waiting for something can be very expensive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the simple economics of it would completely rule out this being used for 'fresh groceries' ... or rather only to people who want to pay 10x for their groceries. My bet: the military/security/coast guard, for far off service posts (like when they put hydro wires way out in the middle of nowhere), offshore Oil, and for very specific things (i.e. medical equipment) for remote communities.
Read the article. The founder was an operations guy at Tesla and specifically did the numbers to justify the company based on the need of Tesla parts supply. There is room for this in the supply chain of many firms. There’s a lot of industries where waiting for something can be very expensive.
Most companies and their parts suppliers are in cities, wherein there are any number of efficient modes of transportation - to the point wherein 'a drone' wouldn't even make logical sense, let alone economic.
There's going to be a considerable overhead associated with operating them - control centers, NOCs, etc. etc. so it might very well be that the 'lack of a human' is the real differentiating factor, i.e. safety, risk.
Nobody is going to be flying 'fresh ingredients' anywhere on those drones, there are regular planes for that as well.
So the use case of 'landing on a moving sheep' is probably right up their alley: it's remote, far, and landing on a moving ship is very dangerous. So it might be the killer use case for something like this. Remember the ship would have to be fitted with a permanent lading spot, trained crew etc. etc. so it would have to be used for something needed consistently.
Technology like this is why The Wall is a waste of money when it comes to deterring drug trafficking.
Jamming drones is easier than you think, the new battleground will be autonomous flying to avoid trivial radio/gps jamming. MIT has open source code for this already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qah8oIzCwk https://github.com/andybarry/flight