
Alphabet’s plans for drone delivery are a fantasy - pinewurst
http://www.recode.net/2016/12/9/13601754/alphabet-drone-delivery-faa-fantasy-google-x
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_coldfire
It's not just Google failing here. Heavily invested in drones for years, clear
that drone delivery is a profitable marketing stunt, use-cases are rare and
often unpublicised. RC planes delivering medicines in remote African
communities for example.

Promo ads show a multicopter delivering your favourite foodstuff, it gets
published on news sites and national tv, huge exposure for very little outlay.

Much like renewables, the main force holding drones back is not the tech
itself but energy storage. Lipo batteries lose capacity over cycles and time
in general, safety margins due to capacity and overhead needed for severe wind
conditions severely reduces capacity.

Suddenly range is tiny without purchasing a monster to carry more
battery/weight, I have an octocopter monster which on paper can carry 20kg,
the carbon fibre blades could slice flesh to the bone, losing all power from
50m over a populated area could kill a person, gravity doesn't discriminate,
these things aren't toys.

Drones fail far too often, there's only a few high quality manufacturers
around for parts. All components operate in an high vibration environment,
from the electrical joints to the MEMS sensors, a failure to protect from
vibration will at best lead to instability and at worst complete failure. Even
in professional usage today, these things get nowhere near the workout they'd
get delivering pizzas.

Points of failure:

Lipo batteries contain and can release huge amounts of energy very quickly,
this thing is strapped to the drone at all times.

ESC/Motor speed controller: a perpetual worry, quality control is poor, even
from the best, you routinely have to buy at a higher amperage if you don't
want thousands of dollars to fall from the heavens.

GPS guided systems arent capable enough in urban environments. When the time
of day decides whether your pizza ends up 4 doors down, its fair to say that a
new solution is needed.

Fatal Error: One drone falling from 100m and putting a person in hospital.
Game over legally.

Ground based delivery will dominate for a while yet. It's safer, more energy
efficient, more accurate, can sit there if GPS fails, competently deals with
thunderstorms, a complete failure doesn't mean it falls from the sky. It's
superior for delivery in everyway, and I say this as a legally qualified drone
pilot.

