[TriEmbed] Amazon to Use Drones to deliver Packages

[John Vaughters]

Charles,

It most certainly does boil down to logistics. I think the Airline and/or Package Delivery Industries will be the starting point for a logistical system to handle a GPS point delivery system.  We are a very long way from this reality and it will have to start with something simple like Amazon's plan. 

2015 - Amazon Starts drone delivery 
2020 -  Many of the kinks get worked out and Gov and Industry finally find a balance
2025 - Expansion of the delivery system reaches most Metropolitan areas
2030 - New Generation cannot imagine life without it, people angry because they are still not in a coverage area
2040 - GPS Point Delivery systems start as an expensive novelty.

It's Truly hard to predict this far out and how people respond to changes in Technology, so many hiccups that revolve around reliable and safe operation. But I am basing these predictions on watching and and studying how technology progresses from historical perspective as well as in my lifetime. While also realizing that some new Tech may come along and accelerate the possibilities. We also have to recognize that many great ideas never come to fruition. I will say that lately I am seeing a revolution in electronics and computing that reminds me of the Origin of the PC, but I would say this time the forces are much stronger and will produce some technology leaps in the next decade. Very hard to predict in these times.

I will read your paper, thanks for the discussion.

John Vaughters





On Monday, December 2, 2013 12:03 PM, Charles West <crwest at ncsu.edu> wrote:
 
Hello,

There are plenty of other things you can do with the idea of automated logistics.  I have written a few (unpublished) papers and proposals on the subject and hope to deploy a pedestrian robot to deliver items like cookies and sodas at NCSU campus in the next 6 months or so.  My NSF application outlines some of the stuff: http://charlesrwest.com/sites/default/files/researchPlan.pdf#overlay-context=node/4

Highlights:

You can potentially use robots traveling on steel cables on telephone poles to deliver objects of up to 50 lb rapidly.  These sort of rail systems would combo well with flying drones because the flying drones would drastically reduce the required infrastructure cost.

In addition to transporting goods, you can also transport other robots and supplies for them.  This allows the offering of robotic services because the robots can get to and from the job site.  This makes something like a leaf blowing robot possible because it can be deployed, clear an area and then be moved on to the next job.

You can also deliver goods to someones current GPS location using a phone app.  This will be really nice for ordering lunch or sunscreen.

Large scale automated logistics would also make it possible to do small scale automation efficiently because you could reach a large surrounding area at low cost.  It would likely replace cafeterias as the source for cheap and quick food.

Likely, it will be like cell phones as one of those technologies it is hard to imagine living without.

I'd love to talk with anyone interested in automated logistics this evening.  Please tap me on the shoulder if you are at the meeting.

Thanks,
Charlie West





On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 11:17 AM, Jonathan Rippy <jkrippy at gmail.com> wrote:

My non-technical comment is that I'm guessing they chose to release this idea today for free cyber monday advertising?  =)
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>Amazon's been all over the news today with this.
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>On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 9:48 AM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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>I can think of no better group than this to ask for thoughts.
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>>My Thoughts:
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>>Crazy but possible, however, potential for problems may make it impossible. Injury Lawsuits, Theft of packages or even drones, really too many issues to even mention.
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>>Headline: Drone causes car crash, 8 dead
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>>Anyone else care to comment?
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>>John Vaughters
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>-- 
>Jonathan Rippy 
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