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Amazon unveils drone delivery plan
BUZZ: US retail giant Amazon's "octocopter" mini-drone would be used to fly small packages to consumers.
Want that Amazon order in just 30 minutes?
Company chief executive officer Jeff Bezos says he hopes to soon deploy an armada of mini-drones able to drop small packages at your doorstep.
The US online retail giant's revolutionary project still needs safety testing and federal approval, but Mr Bezos believes that Amazon "Prime Air" would be up and running within four to five years.
"These are effectively drones but there's no reason they can't be used as delivery vehicles," Mr Bezos told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme late on Sunday.
"I know this looks like science fiction. It's not," he said.
"We can do half-hour delivery... and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86 per cent of the items we deliver."
PROTOTYPE
A video posted on the company's website shows the prototype of a drone.
The body of the device is about the size of a flat-screen monitor and is attached to eight small helicopter rotors and sits on four tail legs.
The claws under the belly of the device then latch onto a standard-sized plastic bucket that rolls down a conveyer belt at Amazon's fulfilment centre. Inside the bucket is the order.
The drone lifts off like a giant mechanical insect to deliver the package just 30 minutes after clicking the "pay" button on Amazon.com. Then it returns to base.
The mini-drones are powered by environmentally friendly electric motors and can cover areas within a 16km radius of the company's fulfilment centres.
The drones operate autonomously and follow the GPS coordinates they receive to drop the items off the target locations.
Amazon said the octocopters would be "ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place", noting that the US Federal Aviation Administration was hammering out rules for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. - AFP
BUZZ: US retail giant Amazon's "octocopter" mini-drone would be used to fly small packages to consumers.
Want that Amazon order in just 30 minutes?
Company chief executive officer Jeff Bezos says he hopes to soon deploy an armada of mini-drones able to drop small packages at your doorstep.
The US online retail giant's revolutionary project still needs safety testing and federal approval, but Mr Bezos believes that Amazon "Prime Air" would be up and running within four to five years.
"These are effectively drones but there's no reason they can't be used as delivery vehicles," Mr Bezos told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme late on Sunday.
"I know this looks like science fiction. It's not," he said.
"We can do half-hour delivery... and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86 per cent of the items we deliver."
PROTOTYPE
A video posted on the company's website shows the prototype of a drone.
The body of the device is about the size of a flat-screen monitor and is attached to eight small helicopter rotors and sits on four tail legs.
The claws under the belly of the device then latch onto a standard-sized plastic bucket that rolls down a conveyer belt at Amazon's fulfilment centre. Inside the bucket is the order.
The drone lifts off like a giant mechanical insect to deliver the package just 30 minutes after clicking the "pay" button on Amazon.com. Then it returns to base.
The mini-drones are powered by environmentally friendly electric motors and can cover areas within a 16km radius of the company's fulfilment centres.
The drones operate autonomously and follow the GPS coordinates they receive to drop the items off the target locations.
Amazon said the octocopters would be "ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place", noting that the US Federal Aviation Administration was hammering out rules for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. - AFP
