Google and Drones

Google and Drones

     Google has patented many things, including self-driving delivery trucks, and on April 25 they patented outlines of methods for drones to deliver packages to homes. We know that Google has been planning to use drones to deliver along with Amazon and Walmart, but we didn't know how. The patent tells use that instead of having the drone try and land in a lawn or on your front steps, it could hover over its target location and lower a package from a cable. It will most likely have an alarm that tells people to stay back, and have a LED light that changes from red, to yellow, to green depending on when you can pick up the package. Then it will bring its cable back up and say a message that tell you that you are able to retrieve your package and fly back to its base to recharge and get a new package. Google will also have to see if the FFA allows this method before they start using it and, once again, they say that they will be planning to do drone deliveries by 2017. The thing is, this might not even be there idea that they use because Google patents a lot of things that either don't end up working or just aren't used. So, do you think that Google will use this idea?    

    

Australian Drone Delivery

Australian Drone Delivery

     Amazon and Google plan to start drone delivery in 2017 in America, but Australia has them beat. Australia's postal service has successfully tested the delivery of small packages on drones and plan to start delivering later this year. The Australian Post has been backed up by the Civil Aviation Authority (CASA) to test delivery of packages by drone in 50 locations. The Australian Post said that the testing will allow them to, well, test new technology that could bring packages to peoples doors faster and safely. Even items that could save lives like medicine. Students in Spain have even created a drone design that is able to deliver organs! 

     There are many companies interested in this testing including Amazon, Walmart, and Maersk (an Alibaba and Danish shipping company). The Australian Post CEO, Ahmed Fahour, says that this drone service will be used to deliver in time-critical situations and where there is not an easily accessible way somewhere. He also says that they will be testing this program for months to figure out what the drones can deliver and the fastest, safest, and easiest way to deliver.    

Drone Deliveries

Drone Deliveries

     Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Google are all experimenting with drones to deliver items. They are restricted because of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has a rule that requires them to ask for approval before each test flight. In March, a drone company called Flirtey completed the first government-sanctioned autonomous (self controlled) drone delivery in a U.S. urban area. The drone was delivering emergency supplies to an empty house in Hawthorne, Nev. using a GPS.

     Yesterday in Japan, the Japanese government drone maker Autonomous Control System Laboratory (ACSL) began testing drone deliveries for homes. Japan doesn't allow drones to be flown in largely populated areas, but there government has allowed for drone delivery tests to happen in Chiba. One of the tests included having a drone go from the top of a shopping center to a park carrying a bottle of wine in a basket. The city of Chiba wants drone delivery to be ready by 2020, for the Summer Olympics.   

 

Drones for the Army

Drones for the Army

     The British and Norwegian armies are using drones to help them in ground operations. The drone that they use is called the Black Hornet. This drone is also being used by The Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Benning, Georgia as a drone to look at for the drone industry. This is because the U.S. also wants to use drones in ground operations.

Image of a Black Hornet

    The solider Borne Sensors (SBS) wants the drones to weigh less than a third of a pound and able to be carried in a pocket. The U.S. Army wants to keep ahead of scientific and engineering innovations. In other words, they want to be really advanced. One of the ways that they plan to do that is by using small-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, also known as drones). The Army plans to have all soldiers equipped with "pocket drones" by 2018.