
Amazon looks at dropping packages from as high as 25 feet - prostoalex
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/03/13/amazon-looks-at-dropping-packages-onto-your-patio-from-as-high-as-25-feet/
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nathanaldensr
1\. Packages dropping on your head and potentially killing you

2\. Wasteful packaging ("airbags") that will undoubtedly end up in a landfill

3\. Noisy drones flying around the sky introducing more noise pollution than
what we already deal with in urban and suburban areas

Some ideas deserve to die.

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nick_
> It’s not that drones get tired. It’s just that if they’re delivering your
> box of cat food and low-rise socks, dropping down to put them on your patio,
> and then flying back up for the next delivery takes power they need to
> conserve.

Descending and ascending slowly should use nearly the same amount of energy as
hovering. Am I missing something? Also the added time spent doing the
descending then ascending versus just dropping the package from hovering is
certainly negligible compared to the energy needed to fly from depot to drop-
off and back.

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pubby
The actual reason for 25 foot drops is probably to reduce both injury
liability (spinning death blades) and the chance of drone theft/destruction.

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Isamu
Why not go with ablative packaging and ballistic atmospheric re-entry?

Then the airbags deploy at altitude and it does a mars lander bounce, or
better yet stick the landing with a controlled bursting airbag.

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pasbesoin
Suddenly, all that AI work into detecting dogs and cats, makes sense!

Reminds me of when the delivery guys "bounced" my new fridge off the street,
taking it out of the truck.

Now I can get the same service from Amazon!

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moocow01
Is this really more efficient? A bunch of smaller drones making individual
trips between a supply point and destination per package versus a truck
loading up once to serve each area?

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QuinnyPig
So I'm a couple of Amazon regulatory approvals and $400 in anvil orders away
from building my own live-action RoadRunner cartoon?

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justboxing
I got a paywall.

Here's the paywall bypassed link to story:
[https://outline.com/jvkzEv](https://outline.com/jvkzEv)

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mnm1
We need some laws to regulate these drones ASAP. You're telling me that we're
allowing Amazon to fly drones and drop shit out of the sky whenever it wants?
This company can't even reliably deliver a package using its own couriers, yet
we have to trust them with a system that could potentially kill people? That's
fucking insane.

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asdsa5325
> You're telling me that we're allowing Amazon to fly drones and drop shit out
> of the sky whenever it wants

No, we don't. Amazon is not doing anything with drones right now. If you
bothered reading the article, you would know that Amazon only has a patent for
a airbag for dropping packages.

"Amazon, keenly focused on automation and cheap, efficient delivery of
products, has obtained dozens of drone-related patents in recent years. __But
it remains to be seen whether this latest one, or any of the others, will lead
to technology used in drone deliveries. __"

