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Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

zdnet.com

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Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#91

Post by brc »

dsrguru wrote: post #62

This is terrifying. If they successfully lobby to legalize commercial drones in low-flying airspace, the peaceful sky will be polluted with flying robots (we've destroyed the terrestrial environment already, seriously don't need to destroy the sky too), businesses would have access to terrifying surveillance, criminals/terrorists could remotely break into drones or fly their own disguised to look like commercial ones…

My terrestrial environment is not destroyed at all. In fact it is quite pleasant.

The occasional buzzing quadra-copter would be sweet music compared to the infernal leaf blowers and lawn-care equipment that gets a frequent workout.

These aren't going to end the world. Especially if it saves lots of people making lots of small trips to the shops for single items. In fact I would say they would make a positive contribution to quality of life.

>FYI I'm not a luddite But you are talking like one.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#92

Post by sebcat »

1) drone failure causing damage to people or property

2) limited operational capabilities in regards to weather conditions. As someone who has flown ram air canopies in urban environments, I can tell you that 10mph winds of a building creates some interesting vortices. What's the air speed of a quad/octocopter-style drone?

3) shared airspace issues. These drones will probably fly pretty low (Solving problems like that would probably be very interesting.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#93

Post by brc »

danenania wrote: post #36

If these get mass adoption, won't it make for highly congested skies in urban areas? Another question is would they be a threat to birds? The technology side is cool, but I don't relish the thought of looking out the window and seeing the air packed with delivery drones going to and fro.

Cars and trucks are also a distinct threat to birds.

Really - unless you lived on 5th Avenue downstream from a local delivery drone center, I doubt you'd see many drones. I don't see how we would see a sparrow flying past as 'pretty' and a drone flying past as 'ugly'. I would be amused to watch them from a window, just like I get amusement from watching planes take off and land. I guess it depends on your perspective.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#94

Post by yeukhon »

alister wrote: post #50
founder4fun wrote: post #42

For me and many it seems file this under hard to believe! It begs me to wonder.... 1. Won't theft of packages run rampant or Amazon only will deploy drones to customers currently home? 2. Wouldn't the drones be subject to be shot or brought down? 3. Will this only fly in good weather? 4. The sky is going to be littered with these things flying around? 5. Will there be a service where you can rent a drone to spy on yo…

If you recast these questions according to how deliveries work right now, I think you see that we already have all those problems and we manage to live with them: 1. Won't theft run rampant if UPS drops off your package at your door when you're not home? 2. Don't drivers of cars and trucks risk getting shot or stopped? 3. Will cars and trucks travel only in good weather? 4. The highways are going to be littered with…

#3 is wrong. Flying a drone in a windy / rainy weather isn't exactly the same as driving a car. One is more massive and resistive. The drone we see in demo probably can't fly very well under strong wind or heavy ring. Size matters.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#95

Post by brc »

founder4fun wrote: post #42

For me and many it seems file this under hard to believe! It begs me to wonder.... 1. Won't theft of packages run rampant or Amazon only will deploy drones to customers currently home? 2. Wouldn't the drones be subject to be shot or brought down? 3. Will this only fly in good weather? 4. The sky is going to be littered with these things flying around? 5. Will there be a service where you can rent a drone to spy on yo…

(5) I know several people with video-enabled drones. Look on youtube - it's a whole genre. That ship has sailed.

Although you'd have to be a pretty stupid adulterer to get caught by a noisy drone while cheating. That may just be a tautology.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#96

Post by omegaworks »

dsrguru wrote: post #62

This is terrifying. If they successfully lobby to legalize commercial drones in low-flying airspace, the peaceful sky will be polluted with flying robots (we've destroyed the terrestrial environment already, seriously don't need to destroy the sky too), businesses would have access to terrifying surveillance, criminals/terrorists could remotely break into drones or fly their own disguised to look like commercial ones…

>WAAA WAAA NIMBY NIMBY WAAAA

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#97

Post by CamperBob2 »

chime wrote: post #79
ogreyonder wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. You say this as a joke, but I vote we come up with a list of features that could be cited as prior art and stick a hash of 'em into the BTC block chain.

I wasn't joking. This is how software patent creation works. Before something can be made in practice, make all the algorithms you might need to implement it.

I believe Intellectual Ventures has patented that business model. You'll be hearing from their drone soon.

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#98

Post by PhasmaFelis »

founder4fun wrote: post #42

For me and many it seems file this under hard to believe! It begs me to wonder.... 1. Won't theft of packages run rampant or Amazon only will deploy drones to customers currently home? 2. Wouldn't the drones be subject to be shot or brought down? 3. Will this only fly in good weather? 4. The sky is going to be littered with these things flying around? 5. Will there be a service where you can rent a drone to spy on yo…

Re: #2: I'm pretty sure it's already illegal to shoot at other people's property (or within city limits at all, most places).

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#99

Post by jmadsen »

xylia wrote: post #84
george88b wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is what they need: http://www.rethinkrobotics.com/products/baxter/

Hmm...I think Baxter will surrepent ( http://prevaricate.me/?p=666 ) into my room though...

Pneumatic tubes, with a drop pad on the roof

Re: Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone

#100

Post by Natsu »

chime wrote: post #79
ogreyonder wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh. You say this as a joke, but I vote we come up with a list of features that could be cited as prior art and stick a hash of 'em into the BTC block chain.

I wasn't joking. This is how software patent creation works. Before something can be made in practice, make all the algorithms you might need to implement it.

Yeah, no matter how obvious something is, someone will probably be able to find a trivial variation of it to patent. I mean, if you have a Taco Copter, clearly a Burrito Copter is nonobvious. I wonder just how trivial they'd allow something like this. I mean it's obvious enough that you can adapt existing telemetry systems and collision avoidance algorithms to this activity, but I doubt the lawyers think it obvious.
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