I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never work"

[MadMitch88]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

Now it's my turn to chuckle. Since when does the criminal element care about laws and consequences?

It will be far easier to take down a drone and steal the cargo than it would be to shoplift in a store, carjack someone, or rob a bank.

Given the slightest opportunity, bad people do bad things. They don't think about consequences.

I agree with your last sentence, but not with your 2nd sentence.

Last time I checked, a modern drone is equipped with a HD camera and GPS logging capabilities. That means anything that gets stolen (incl. the drone itself) will have a digital record of where and when the criminal act took place. While not foolproof, that makes it very hard to shoot down or steal from a drone and not eventually get caught.

Carjacking somebody is a lot easier than stealing from a drone. You stick a gun in someone's face and commandeer their car, then drive quickly to your chop shop. Robbing a bank is a little trickier because of security cameras, but banks get robbed every day so it aint that rare.

I respect my privacy like anyone else, but when you got a chest-thumping bravado attitude about "I'm shooting down any drone over my property", well then you just end up looking foolish and uninformed about the facts. In 10 years, try shooting down a police drone hovering over your property and tell me how easy it is and there's no real consequences.

 

[sergekouper]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

I just found this, that could be of interest:
http://www.theguardian.com/media-networ ... n-delivery

 

[Khudson7]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

I just found this, that could be of interest:
http://www.theguardian.com/media-networ ... n-delivery

Just in case you missed it...there is a link on the page above that takes you to this very interesting video:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...step-UK-start-up-trials-delivery-service.html

or here:
http://sky.bizzby.com

 

[Buckaye]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

There's actually a far more simple reason why drone delivery will not be profitable. Unruly teens, gang members, idiots, and ne'er do wells will do everything they can to knock them out of the sky and steal the merchandise. And if Amazon employs a drop off hub like Locker then the bad guys will easily learn the route and be on the lookout for deliveries.

Guns, rocks, cheapie drones, and even jamming radio frequencies could all pose a threat to delivery drones. And you can bet that the bad guys will be creative and find more and more ways to knock the deliveries out of the sky.

I get a chuckle when I hear this response. Why do people think it's so easy to knock a drone out of the sky, or that there will not be serious consequences to it?

Most states classify FELONY vandalism as any willful destruction of property over $1,000. Most industrial drones will easily cost that much, and if a drone is upwards of $10,000 then I could see a perpetrator also getting slapped with a 3rd or 4th degree felony for "interference with commerce" as well. These are not trivial criminal charges and upwards of a year in state prison could the reward for some punk who wants to steal an expensive drone.

These commercial drones will of course be equipped with GPS trackers, cellular radios, and cameras so stealing them without somebody seeing your face and knowing your GPS location will be difficult. There will be some lost or stolen but that's why you have commercial property insurance.

Besides, many products could be air dropped from 100 ft. I doubt anyone wants a new $800 iPhone dropped that way, but who cares if a DVD securely packed inside a cardboard box with bubble wrap is dropped onto your lawn? God knows worse stuff is probably happening at the UPS warehouse. Cargo winches could also be a cool idea as demonstrated by this pizza delivery in Russia:

go to 0:55 to see the winch lowering a pizza box to the ground


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzJ9GjTebUQ[/youtube]

As much as I hate to revive this dead horse thread... I just saw this article... Hadn't even thought of counter drones: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ ... es-drones/

 

[GoodnNuff]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

I hate to revive the dead horse too, but was surprised to find out this company is local and the VP of Operations is almost a neighbor of mine. 12.5 hours of continuous flight on a 5 minute battery!
Check it out:
http://lasermotive.com/2010/11/12/video ... ce-flight/

 

[Khudson7]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

I hate to revive the dead horse too, but was surprised to find out this company is local and the VP of Operations is almost a neighbor of mine. 12.5 hours of continuous flight on a 5 minute battery!
Check it out:
http://lasermotive.com/2010/11/12/video ... ce-flight/

WOW...that really blew me away. Amazing what is coming...down the pike!

And for finding this...I present you with this special award:

(Just kidding...of course)

 

[Meta4]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

Just in case you missed it...there is a link on the page above that takes you to this very interesting video:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...step-UK-start-up-trials-delivery-service.html

That's just another attempt at viral marketing with a mythical drone delivery.
Gullible journalists love spreading this sort of bunk without questioning it at all.
Anyone can make a video of a pretend drone delivery and the myth is continued.
Any drone pilot with an IQ above room temperature should be able to see this stunt just won't fly.
How did the drone operator know which window to go through to make the pickup and to land on the table?
How did the drone operator know to land at the feet of the girl?
It's just another copy of this ....
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/15/4840 ... -australia
Zookal never delivered a single textbook by drone but got more publicity than they could dream of with that nonsense.
The idea was picked up a month later by Amazon who got even more publicity with the same myth.

 

[Khudson7]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

Just in case you missed it...there is a link on the page above that takes you to this very interesting video:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...step-UK-start-up-trials-delivery-service.html

That's just another attempt at viral marketing with a mythical drone delivery.
Gullible journalists love spreading this sort of bunk without questioning it at all.
Anyone can make a video of a pretend drone delivery and the myth is continued.
Any drone pilot with an IQ above room temperature should be able to see this stunt just won't fly.
How did the drone operator know which window to go through to make the pickup and to land on the table?
How did the drone operator know to land at the feet of the girl?
It's just another copy of this ....
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/15/4840 ... -australia
Zookal never delivered a single textbook by drone but got more publicity than they could dream of with that nonsense.
The idea was picked up a month later by Amazon who got even more publicity with the same myth.

 

[Khudson7]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

OK, one final post...and I am done!

This is uniquivical proof, beyond any shadow of a doubt...that drone delivery...is doable with today's technology and very worthwhile!

http://youtu.be/i4JBAdIdBtM

Any questions?

 

[Ciprian]

Re: I laugh when I hear people say "Amazon Air will never wo

Never say never.
Sooner or later drone delivery system will work. If the USA is to restrictive on regulations, drone delivery will start somewhere else.
Software and hardware will become better. And probably they'll begin with FPV deliveries and then move to truly autonomous drones.