
Engineering a Hook That Could Make Drone Deliveries Real - wallflower
https://www.wired.com/story/wing-alphabet-x-drone-engineering/
======
TaylorAlexander
I’m friends with André! We work in the same building. He’s been working on
that damn hook for some time now. My desk is near a multi story atrium in the
building and sometimes he tests the spooling system near me. I can’t recall
when he started this part of it but for at least a year now I’ve been hearing
of the ups and downs. They have so many little issues to work out and they
always want to keep weight down. It’s too bad the article didn’t have any
pictures of the prototypes he has, but I guess they’re not ready to reveal
that.

André is also responsible for building a pretty awesome jet turbine powered
chainsaw. :-D

[https://youtu.be/cr02tS39op8](https://youtu.be/cr02tS39op8)

~~~
fhood
Did he get paid to build that? How do I get paid to put turbines in power
tools?

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PanMan
So a whole article on the perfect hook, with nice photos, but they didn’t
include one of he perfect hook they designed? Anybody found one?

~~~
Illniyar
I'm guessing that's because of patent or copycat issues. They don't want to
reveal it until it's out.

~~~
at-fates-hands
I would assume this is the case. I have several friends who demoed prototypes
of stuff they were in the process of building, only to have it copied,
marketed and sold before they could finish their design.

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wozmirek
All's cool, I already see the air full of drones (if I can't have my flying
cars in 2020, drones would suffice), I'm truly worried about the noise though.

While hoping that electric cars will make cities less noisy (I can feel it in
Berlin with more and more electric cars and scooters), the buzzing sounds of
drones is already too loud for me - and I've seen only several so far.

That's going to be terrible, having dozens of them buzzing around, like your
typical high-pitched scooter, but next to your 3rd floor window.

Any quiet drones in development? ;)

~~~
Harvey-Specter
DJI's Macic Pro Platinum uses a different rotor design and rotor frequency to
make it much quieter than previous models. Apparently it sounds more like a
desk fan than a hive of angry bees.[0]

[0] [https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/1/16573820/dji-mavic-pro-
pl...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/1/16573820/dji-mavic-pro-platinum-
drone-sound-noise)

~~~
wozmirek
Sounds great! :)

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syntaxing
I recommend looking at the prototypes throughout the years from them [1]. It's
pretty cool to see what they changed. I am super curious about some of their
decisions. I am sure there are good reasons but I am not too clear why (like
having smaller props. Did the wake of the large props decreased the efficiency
for gliding more than using smaller props for hovering?!)

[1] [https://x.company/projects/wing/](https://x.company/projects/wing/)
(scroll about half way down and there should be a slideshow you can click
into)

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js2
Meanwhile in rural China:

> Just a few feet above the ground, the drone drops the box then zips back up
> into the sky and disappears. The spectacle is over in 20 seconds.

[https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/09/how-e-
commerce...](https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/09/how-e-commerce-
with-drone-delivery-is-taking-flight-in-china)

------
Mefis
Drone deliveries are real. They are happening in China right now.

[https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/09/how-e-
commerce...](https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/09/how-e-commerce-
with-drone-delivery-is-taking-flight-in-china)

Rwanda too, with Zipline.

~~~
eberkund
And starting up in Canada too:
[http://www.dronedeliverycanada.com/](http://www.dronedeliverycanada.com/)

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darthswwils
Arcade claw machines already feature battle-tested mechanics for raising and
lowering something on a string.

They do not simply deploy a wound bobbin, but instead have the bobbin after 2
idler wheels. One wheel is housed on a lever - The weight of the claw (or in
this case package) keeps the idler on a lever pushed down during most of the
operation - when it contacts a prize (or in this case the floor) the idler
receives less load and thus the lever moves up ensuring it does not jam or
unwind further.

Its a pretty ingenious design from an age where load sensing would be very
expensive - and achieves robust bi-directional winding with end detection with
just 1 microswitch.

This zero-moving parts hook sounds great, but I don't see how much different
it can be from a gravity hook, or a ships buoy-hook; unless it simply captures
the package interface in a specific orientation (anyone who has ever played
"fishing" with 2L pop bottles and a curtain ring knows the satisfaction of
such mechanisms) - my guess would be that the attachment point is a specific
shape rather than a circle; to promote the tension-less force to movement up
and off.

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teddyh
See also:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_hook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_hook)
from the 19th century.

------
baybal2
This does not seem to be sound engineering to me.

Just the sole fact that they have no payload faring tells me that they don't
have a single man with aeronautic engineering background.

~~~
Etheryte
Maybe I simply misunderstood what you meant, but doesn't the box with all the
bubblewrap and whatnot cover that purpose? They're already lowering it to the
ground, I don't think it would need much extra protection.

~~~
jfoucher
I think what the parent is alluding to is that a box shape does not cut
through the air very well, and that they should add a more aerodynamic shape
to make it easier on the drone.

~~~
mattlondon
From what I have seen, the "box" here is not a cube, but more of an
aerodynamically-sound shape (at least to a layman's understanding of pointy-
things-are-more-aerodynamic).

Not sure how recent this photo is, but it gives a feel for what the box
looks/looked like at some stage:

[https://www.simplebotics.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/alph...](https://www.simplebotics.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/alphabet_project_wing_hybrid_2.jpg)

[https://9to5google.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/project-
wing-...](https://9to5google.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/project-wing-
traffic-e1496853046991.jpeg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600&h=800)

[http://supreme2.ru/geek/uploads/2018/07/g2.jpg](http://supreme2.ru/geek/uploads/2018/07/g2.jpg)

~~~
baybal2
>[http://supreme2.ru/geek/uploads/2018/07/g2.jpg](http://supreme2.ru/geek/uploads/2018/07/g2.jpg)

Well, this does look more or less reassuring. Still, even an aeronatics
amateur will judge whatever they have there as an abomination.

I just checked. That man is... an industrial designer, not an aeronautic
engineer.

~~~
azernik
That single person is a mechanical engineer.

Wing as a project, though, has _designed their own aircraft_ , so I'm going to
say, yes, they have aerospace people on staff.

