So… physics: Let's presume the maximum useful delivery is an iPad mini. That's 330g raw, call it 500g in box. Let's presume that half of their 30 minutes is picking and prepping and that flight time is 15 minutes one way. That means we need a dwell of 30 minutes. Let's put a factor of safety of 1.5 - fighter aircraft lean. So we need 45 minutes of air time with a 1kg payload. That cute little gadget they've got in the video is wishful thinking. You're talking DSLR-grade hexacopters and octocopters - a beastie like this with half its payload given over to extra batteries would just about do it. So we're in the realm of "3 feet across" and "15 pounds in the air" and that cute little sussurussing of spinny rotors just became a screaming monster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1cszCXJfU So yeah, you can do that, but no, it's not gonna just happen. The FPV guys have been dealing with this since the get-go: "we're just recreational hobbyists! Why are you persecuting us!" Well, the answer is you've got an angry wasp the size of a beagle ripping overhead at 40mph and it's fucking scary, yo. Those are carbon fiber blades at 6000 rpm with a 500W motor behind them. Times six. The thing is a flying blender, it really is. I work with octocopters and hexacopters occasionally and yeah, they're cool… but they're fucking unsettling when they're overhead. You think your HOA harshes on skateboards. Wait until they get a load of this shit. I'm with 'em, BTW, and I own 3 RC helicopters.
I wonder what the energy efficiency is of those unmanned vehicles that can fly the crow's path, but must constantly be fighting wind / gravity and can only carry one item at a time vs. entire delivery trucks that must travel indirect roads, stop and start at traffic lights, but can carry hundreds of packages.
I'm surprised no one has pointed out how useless these will be to (1) any apartment building or (2) in any city with crowded areas of buildings. While it may work in Kansas flying over a big old field and dropping it in your 3 acre backyard, how would it get through a city like New York or Boston or Hollywood, maneuver itself through buildings, plants, trees, and flags, and successfully deliver it to you?
dead5 also ended up posting this. I made a comment over in that thread, but I'll paste it here too: That said, the future looks bright if in 10 years we can get this service everywhere. I'm still amazed at getting stuff the next day. I can't even imagine getting it in 30 minutes.I thought this was pretty damn cool. When my bro first showed it to me, I figured it must have been a joke. A few google searches later proved that it was indeed true. 30 minutes? Sounds impossible. But then I saw the requirements: within 10 miles of a delivery center and the package must be under 5 pounds.
Self-destruct protocols? I assume they'll have tracking devices at the very least. They have to be taking the fact that releasing drones into the public sphere will result in people fucking with their shit, at least a little and yet in the 60 Minutes interview, nothing.
Surely they will attach tracking devices to the drones. If the drones are damaged/stolen, they will know exactly where the event took place. Even if the GPS device is destroyed, it's still plausible to find where it was last active. I don't think Amazon would be lenient with the fines of a broken UAV.