Zipline drone

United Parcel Service will be using drones as well. However, appropriate security and safety concerns are there.
 
edwest said:
United Parcel Service will be using drones as well. However, appropriate security and safety concerns are there.
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This video gives a pretty good overview what differentiates zipline from the rest...
 
Interesting... However, I wonder how they can afford the extra weight of components on the delivery pod. In contrast Google Wing uses a special shaped cardbord box to safe as much weight as possible. The concept is pretty much the same...
View: https://youtu.be/it913uagg0U
 
VTOLicious said:
Interesting... However, I wonder how they can afford the extra weight of components on the delivery pod.
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Clearly it works. The pod need not weigh much. The pod does add weight, though... but it also adds delivery precision that a simple cardboard box doesn't. In order to get a pinpoint landing with crosswinds, the Google Wing will need to have a shorter drop line, which means the drone will be closer to the public.
 
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I can see your point... Time will tell what's the regulators (safety) and last but not least the public opinion (acceptance) on that.
 
Bounce said:
The props are far more bigger news than that zipline here.
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They certainly seem like they're important. Imagine if Ukrainian bomb delivery drones had these props. "Surprise!" Of course, if Ukrainian bomb drones had these props *and* a gondola suspended hundreds of feet below the drone, they could operate largely silently at night and drift aong over trenches just a yard or two up, quietly dropping small remotely detonated packages as they go. All of a sudden, BLAMMO, a dozen carefully and quietly placed explosions wreak some havoc.

Heck, forget the ordnance: fit the gondolas with sensors. They could *listen* to the enemy from just a few yards away, unseen and unheard. Or they could leave behind Extra Special packages: AK-47 magazines loaded with rounds that detonate when fired; packaged food prepared a little bit wrong (or with food made out of Play Doh); medical supplies filled with the very best Flint tapwater rather than antiseptics. Illegal? Sure. You could also carefully place notes, packages, stuffed animals onto sleeping soldiers. Scare the bejeezus out of 'em when they wake up to find that the Grim Reaper paid them a visit in the night.
 
I do wonder how well this technology would work in more heavily forested cities, and cities which have a lot of above ground power or telephone cables. That would seem to be an issue with household delivery. Rapid delivery of items to drop boxes at prepared locations might work though.

I also can't help but think of the old spähgondel concept - and how giving it a motor and having it weathervane into the wind potentially allows quite a bit of precision in this case... it is potentially quite clever as a delivery mechanism.

Bounce said:
The props are far more bigger news than that zipline here.
Click to expand...

They are rather nice props :) Makes me want to make some experiments myself!
 
Avimimus said:
I do wonder how well this technology would work in more heavily forested cities, and cities which have a lot of above ground power or telephone cables. That would seem to be an issue with household delivery.
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Zipline would be better in those cases... you could drop the package down through branches or wires with much less risk of tangles than going down with the whole drone, blades and all. But there will doubtless have to be specified drop-zones that are reasonably clear of overhead issues.
 
VTOLicious said:
edwest said:
United Parcel Service will be using drones as well. However, appropriate security and safety concerns are there.
Click to expand...
This video gives a pretty good overview what differentiates zipline from the rest...
Click to expand...
Zipline is also going to disrupt another traditional factor in African, Balkan, etc. wars: starvation. With drones able to fly above traditional trade routes (rai, road and river) they can bypass militias who seek to halt the flow of food to tribes that they dislike. With a steady flow of drones delivering food, it will disrupt the traditional methods of siege and starvation. to force rival tribes to submit or die.
 

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