Drone Mandolin Delivery?

[Clinton Johnson]

Just seen on the news that Drones could possibly become a method of quick package delivery to our doorsteps. Gosh I hope my new $10,000+ mando will be delivered safely lol. Wow the world of technology right?

[William Smith]

Bad idea, we all know what else can be delivered if you have a mind like mine!!
Also a ton of people will be out of jobs.

[foldedpath]

The major barrier to this whole drone delivery thing is the noise. Just about every video shown extolling drones for one purpose or other has a nice music soundtrack, because nobody wants to show how noisy these things are.

And that's just the small camera drones. Anything capable of lifting a 20 lb. package will be even noisier. There's just no way to damp the sound of multiple props pushing air. It's the same reason you're not going to have a neighbor using his personal autonomous flying car/drone to go to work. You think leaf blowers are bad? Try having helicopter-level noise in the neighborhood.

There will be exceptions for things like emergency medical supply delivery, police surveillance of ongoing crime scenes, things like that. I think package delivery and maybe even the flying car thing might work in urban cores, where they can land on rooftops away from the pedestrian level. But if I see a fleet of Fedex drones flying packages over my yard, I'm reaching for my shotgun.

[dhergert]

Drone deliveries will happen when it's sufficiently reliable, and mostly when it's cheaper to do that than to have it delivered by a contract service. Cheaper including liability and damage insurance. The big sales companies like Amazon are the real power behind this concept, and they have been testing technology for the last few years.

We aren't talking about drone delivery from the item's point of origin. We're talking about drone delivery from the local warehouse after it was shipped there by air, truck or train. Batteries are the limiting factor there.

Again, the only reason it isn't happening now is that it isn't cheaper yet.

[mee]

If I see a drone with a package marked “Mandolin Store” I’m shooting it down when it passes over my house

[Timbofood]

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

[Folkmusician.com]

I have seen some tests of drones UPS is doing and it seems viable. They were launching from the truck.

Still, there is so much in the works here. The Amazon door locks, they just started delivery to your car trunk.

Our community just installed a lockerbox with keyfob access. It texts us when there is a package. I have a feeling we may see package delivery somehow built into new buildings and subdivisions. Think Elon Musk, Hyperloop. This seems to be where it is headed and it is feasible.

[MikeZito]

How does a drone ring the doorbell and get your signature?

Sorry, but if I'm ordering a $2,500 mandolin, (or even a $250 mandolin) I don't want it dropped on my doorstep by the Star-ship Enterprise, and left there for some unscrupulous neighbor to walk off with.

[Dave Bradford]

I suppose before too long, you will be able to order mandolins with high impact packaging for the drone parachute drops, extreme insulation packaging when delivered to the trunk of your car, and some kind of verbal signature delivery confirmation from your voice activated doorbell security system for the old fashioned human/truck deliveries.

[foldedpath]

We aren't talking about drone delivery from the item's point of origin. We're talking about drone delivery from the local warehouse after it was shipped there by air, truck or train. Batteries are the limiting factor there.

Noise and distraction are the limiting factor, not just cost and batteries. If I lived in a mountain cabin away from everyone, then drone delivery might be a good idea. Or maybe in dense urban areas. But I can tell you that in my suburban neighborhood, the noise and visual distraction won't be tolerated. The daily USPS/Fedex/UPS trucks and drivers just don't have the same kind of impact on a neighborhood.

And just wait for the lawsuits, when a driver hits a kid on a bicycle because they were distracted by a drone crossing overhead. Of course once we're all being driven around in autonomous cars that won't be an issue. But meanwhile...

P.S. normally I'm a gadget geek and enjoy seeing all the new tech as it rolls out. But this is different. I like my (relatively) quiet neighborhood the way it is.

[dhergert]

Well, not that I really want to be the devil's advocate, but did you have any choice when Amazon started shipping via FedEx and UPS? Or when they started shipping through the USPS? Or when they went to their own local fleet of shipping trucks and drivers instead of UPS, FedEx or USPS? Nope. Amazon selects to do what it believes is reliable and least expensive. When the time comes, they'll make that kind of decision again, as will every other company that ships a lot.

I'm not really reporting on the social aspects of this, and I do realize they exist. But there are also social aspects of every decision a company makes, aspects that do make a difference to other people in one way or another. Ultimately, companies make their decisions, and predictably, their decisions are usually based on what costs less.

[foldedpath]

Well, not that I really want to be the devil's advocate, but did you have any choice when Amazon started shipping via FedEx and UPS? Or when they started shipping through the USPS? Or when they went to their own local fleet of shipping trucks and drivers instead of UPS, FedEx or USPS? Nope. Amazon selects to do what it believes is reliable and least expensive. When the time comes, they'll make that kind of decision again, as will every other company that ships a lot.

Sure, but your examples are using current infrastructure with no additional impact. In other words, it wouldn't matter if it was USPS delivering all the packages, or some mix of other outfits.

Drones are completely new infrastructure, and it won't be up to Amazon or any other company to write the rules on how they'll be used. Every municipality has rules and regulations, like noise laws, hazards to traffic, and so on that will affect this. Some municipalities may decide to allow it, others won't. The rules may be different in commercial zoned areas vs. residential zoning.

There are additional issues involving air rights over private property that the FAA may get involved in. There is a reason why every operator of a helicopter, for example, has to follow minimum height restrictions (with certain exceptions for law enforcement and air ambulance).

The delivery companies can't just decide on their own, how they'll deploy these things. Thank goodness.

[Jim Garber]

I like to deliver drones on my mandolin. Sounds especially good on Scottish bagpipe tunes.

[JeffD]

I remember thinking, as I was canoeing down the West Branch of the Delaware River, that it would be nice if some delicatessen had drone delivery. I could get on my cell phone and order a roast beef on marbled rye with russian salad dressing. I could just see it wrapped in aluminum and wax paper hanging from the drone flying in from up stream.

But there is not good cell coverage on that part of the river. And the fishing wasn't so good that day either.

[Timbofood]

FedEx, USPS, UPS all have one very important thing in common, they can only crash in two (final delivery) dimensions, things falling from the sky into my front yard just seems like an awful waste of...well, pretty much everyone that already is struggling to keep their job. Farm it out to drone delivery system? How many real jobs must fall to technological “labor saving genius” before society realizes we need faces involved with transactions? Nameless, faceless business. Sounds like a wonderful future, might as well abandon all connection with hands on anything.

[allenhopkins]

I want to buy with the return option, so the drone shows up at my house to take the mandolin back when I decide the "chop" is insufficient.

My guess is that drone delivery is an interesting idea, with "the devil in the details." There'd be nothing easier than tracking drones flying through a neighborhood, and stealing the packages once dropped off. I already keep an eye on my neighbors' porches, and relocate any packages left there to the rears of their houses, with a handwritten note slipped under their doors to tell them the packages are behind and out of sight.

Clearly there'd need to be a weight limit, and probably fragility restrictions as well. Would there be a central distribution point in each city, from which the drones would be launched? USPS, UPS and FedEx already have staff and infrastructure, which Amazon would have to replicate -- unless existing delivery services could be incentivized to "go drone."

Drones are weather-dependent, substantially more fragile than trucks, and also likely to transgress many individual "air spaces" while delivering, rather than keeping to public highways. As pointed out above, a drone sufficiently large to deliver medium packages, would be nearly as noisy and obtrusive as a small helicopter. Assume that it wouldn't be remotely piloted, but programmed to deliver to GPS coordinates; it would have to negotiate trees, buildings and power lines.

There'd be limited provision for recipients to certify deliveries, and I can foresee a raft of claims of non-delivery. Not entirely sure what advantage widespread drone delivery would provide -- especially since there are well-established distribution networks already, free from some of the drones' drawbacks. Sounds sexy, but I'm guessing driverless delivery trucks will come first.

Driving is the major employment category for male Americans with less than college education. Going "driverless" will have a huge and widespread economic impact. One can't hold back technology, probably, but let's think a bit about the externalities of such a change.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Regulating the airspace with 100's if not 1,000's of drones zipping around would be a real problem. Would homes need a dedicated drone landing pad to keep them away from people when they deliver a parcel ?. As Timothy said, '' Just because you can,doesn't mean that you should ''. IMHO - it's a really bad idea,badly thought through,
Ivan

[Willie Poole]

Funny, Just as I was reading this post a knock came on my door and I went to see who/what it was...There was package lying on the front porch, the UPS delivery person didn`t even wait for me to answer the door, he/she just laid it on the porch and it was pouring down rain and the package wasn`t in a water proof container....NOW what will a drone do in a case like bad weather...I can`t see this ever happening...

Willie

[foldedpath]

Not entirely sure what advantage widespread drone delivery would provide -- especially since there are well-established distribution networks already, free from some of the drones' drawbacks. Sounds sexy, but I'm guessing driverless delivery trucks will come first.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more it does make sense for delivery in congested urban cores. I hate, really hate having to drive in downtown Seattle because the traffic is such a nightmare around rush hour. Last time was to get to an Altan concert, and I almost swore off ever going to another one at that venue in the city center.

Getting delivery trucks off the streets in urban centers like that would be a major benefit. Every apartment building and office tower could have drone landing pads and sheltered collection boxes on the roof. Of course that would mean some redesign for access to rooftops, which aren't usually available to building tenants. But it might be worth the effort. Maybe parachute-drop the boxes down a delivery shaft. All the drone activity would be way up at rooftop level, and you'd barely know it was there except for the buzzing.

At the opposite extreme, drones might save time and be more efficient for remote rural delivery to farms and such. It's the in-between zone of suburbs and close-knit town neighborhoods like the one I live in, where I can't see it being anything other than a major problem, with large numbers of drones interacting with houses at street level.

[Jeff Mando]

Like the "driverless cars" already mentioned, I'm probably not going to be a fan. Of course, this goes back to my original criticism concerning eBay and other online sellers of musical instruments, and mail order in general, for that matter. In order to provide us with a better selection, we gladly accept the risk of shipping as a necessary evil. No telling how many instruments have been destroyed already through poor packing, careless handling, theft, etc. Instruments were much happier when they stayed in their own hometowns!

[Folkmusician.com]

I will be surprised if we don't see drones come into use for delivery. It may not be widespread, but it will happen.

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-...ode=8037720011


https://dronedj.com/2018/03/14/amazo...rone-delivery/

"Amazon, Google, Boeing and GE recently announced that they are working on developing a private Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system with the aim of safely integrating unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace."


These are not small players.

[foldedpath]

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-...ode=8037720011


https://dronedj.com/2018/03/14/amazo...rone-delivery/

"Amazon, Google, Boeing and GE recently announced that they are working on developing a private Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system with the aim of safely integrating unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace."


These are not small players.

Uh huh. Check out the two promotional videos on that Amazon link. Both have voiceover and music on the soundtrack. They don't include the actual sound of the delivery drone, and there's a reason for that. I rest my case.

[Folkmusician.com]

Maybe they will switch to Helium balloon delivery...


I stil foresee some way to get delivery systems built in (like your rooftop method) They are pushing too hard in that direction and it isn't really new tech, I mean drive up bank tellers (vacuum tube) have done this for how long?


The thing that seems to be catching right now is this:
https://www.techspot.com/news/69610-...sk-online.html

It could work out that they start putting these in neighborhoods and the drone delivers to the kiosk.

[mandroid]

Amazon had an idea , facilitated by On* Star, to unlock your car, to leave packages in it ,
where it was parked ..

[mrmando]

Also a ton of people will be out of jobs.

They can get new jobs as drone pilots!