Drones-To-Go

A look at thebenefitsof thenew delivery method

By Abelardo Surigao III

Delivery droneswerecreated adapt Comp to an it? iesthat providedrone customer,Wo does exactlyt rkh hat orse?s Hors .However, efly with theintention to deliver products,likeMatternet, precisely why build adelivery packages quicklythrough theair, Workhorse,and Delivery Drone droneat all? soaring acrosstheskies and Canada(DDC)aim to provide fast, Drones cheapen thecost to deliver saving lives,especially when reliable,and cheap dronesto join goods,an important factor in the applied into medical use. thedelivery industry.Drones are deliveryindustry according to John Nowadays,delivery droneshave highlycustomizable,meaning that Graber,head of Workspace's features and abilitiesthat can various applicationscan be Aerospacegroup leading changethedelivery industry and implemented into them.For development of dronedelivery. providepeoplewith their example,theMatternet M2Droneis ?Companies believe1to 2% of all necessities quickly and efficiently. focused on transporting medical delivered packages areableto ship However,is thetimecoming where suppliesfrom oneperson or by drones,?Graber said.?That is they could becomemore hospital to another.In the over 5 million aday.Drone commonplace,and at thesame commercial industry,which works deliveriescost less than 10 centsa time,wherepeoplewill haveto to deliver retail goods to the

Matternet manufactures drones designed to fly over urban environments.In the easy-to-useinterfacefor sending and receiving packages 24/7/365.Automated

pictureis avisual concept of theMatternet Station,an payload and battery exchange.Imagecourtesyof Matternet.

mile,whiletraditional delivery trucks cost morethan $1amile.?

Many other purposes areat play regarding dronedelivery, According to Michael Zahra? president and CEOof Delivery DroneCanada.He, as well as thepreviousSenior Vice President of Operationsand Strategy ,is aseasoned executivewith over 30 years of experienceasasenior level leader.

?Theusecasesarereally whereaccessis difficult,?said Zahra.?It could bein Canada,wehavealot of seasonal roads that don't operatein thewinter,we actuallyhavesomeice highways that don't operate in thesummer,or ferry serviceis infrequent.If accessis convenient,it's not necessarily adrawing solution.?

According to Zahra,drones can beused to deal with time.This could beafood delivery,or ahealthcare emergency.

?If I'm moving an organ for transplant from onehospital to another,and you'vegot traffic,it's going to takean hour and Ican get mydrone in 10 minutes,?Zahrasaid. ?That could besaving lives, transporting defibrillators, bloods,transporting an EpiPen,an asthmainhaler,asnake bitekit,or something likethat.Time is critical,sometimes is important.? With so manypositiveeffects dronescan provideto human societyand contributeto the deliveryindustry,you maybe wondering whereweareat in termsof droneprogress.

?WehavetheSparrow,which is the smallest one,which is fully operational,?Zahrasaid.?It's actuallyoperating at customers, generating revenuefor almost a year now.TheRobin and the Condor,we'rejust wrapping up testing in thenext littlewhilewith both of those.TheRobin is sort of themedium sized onethat has capability.Ithink we'revery excited to seethetwo bigger ones come out in thenext littlewhile.?

Drones arenot quitereadyto competewith SantaClaus and deliver toys beforeChristmas morning,but thedream of transporting goods from an origin to thedestination is becoming closer to reality.As timegoes on, technologyflourishes,but some challenges may still arise.For example,whilecurrent regulations imposed by transportation agencies liketheFAAare limiting,theyareslowly but surely changing.

?For instance,theFAAjust madesomeannouncements acoupleof months ago; they'remaking changesand that opens up moreusecases and moreviableprojects that can bedone,?Zahrasaid.?I

"Companiesbelieve1to 2%of all deliveredpackages areabletoshipby dr " ones. - JohnGraber,WorkhorseAerospace Lead

would say,thebiggest onewould aerospaceand autonomous not bethetechnology,but it would navigation.In addition to this, betheregulations.We'rehappy concerns of thepublic regarding with our system.We'rehappywith privacyand safetyhaverisen over our technology,we'revery happy thepast few years. with what wecan do and how far ?Theissues to address areprivacy ahead weareversusany of our and noise,?Zahrasaid.?In our competitors.Theonly thing that we case,wedon't havecamerason all would want in this industry is thedrone maybethe regulations moveabit to "Thisisnot goingto intentionall for reasons privacy,but y of we morequickly.? replaceall other means do haveasort Accordi Graber, ng to of transportati " on. s of an ensor optical camera Workhorse?s - Michael Zahra, that wepoint primary CEOof Delivery DroneCanada straight down noisythan large787aircraft flying goals are that weuseto at 30,000 feet.They?renot really safety, moreprecisely land based on an that noisy. reliability,and community optical barcodeat thedronespot. acceptance.It is very hard to For us,privacyis not an issue Even with all theselimitations and completesystemsthat achieveall whatsoever.Thesecond issueis of theconcerns of thepublic, of thosethings.Members of the noise.Our dronesfly around 400 companiesstill continueto team havedeep experiencewith feet,and they'regenerallyless develop drones,each with a specialty.Jenny Russo is aPR manager at Matternet. ?Oneof thethingsIcan highlight is that our M2dronewas designed to flyover cities? urban environments,?Russo said. ?Unlikeotherswho mainly haveto flyover rural environments.? DDChas taken anotableapproach and focused on asystems approach according to Michael Zahra.They?vefocused systematically on drones,not just on thehardwareitself,for hardware is almost acommodity. ?Ithink if you look at thewhole

Alook of theDelivery DroneCanadaOperationsCentre,whereall drones aremonitored 24/7.Image provided by Delivery DroneCanada. Avisual graphic of DDCSparrow's delivery droneapplicatio Abelardo Surigao III.

ons.Imageprovided by DeliveryDroneCanada.Graphics by

system,that'swherewe differentiateourselves,?Zahra said.?It's amoreintegrated turnkey solution whereothersare focused very just on thedrone,like Googleor Amazon,they'vegot a very small drone.But theydon't haveabig OperationsControl Center.At thepricepoint wherewe are,therereallyisn't somebody who has thesizeand the capabilities of thedrones.?

Zahrasaid dronesarein the making and haveaprobable future.When thetime comes,they will possess practical capabilities that may act as an addition to the delivery industryas well as changehuman society positively.

?This is not going to replace all other means of transportation,?said Zahra. ?Ithink there's always going to beamix,but Ithink you will definitely seedronesas part of that mixfor theinstances whereit makes senseto have to havedrones.Ithink it's going to beahybrid,Idon't think it'sgoing to beamass replacement of other channels.It's going to get there,but it's going to get therein phases.?

Drones could becomepart of thevariety of transport options and do their part wheretheyareneeded.

However,an important question to ask is ?Why should societyaccept drones??

?This is themost important question facing theindustry,? Graber said.?If dronesannoy you everyday,they won? t makeit.But if theyserveyou well,improveyour life,help takecongestion off our roads,help lower our carbon footprint,and you don? t think about them anymorethan you do your car or bike,theywill cement their place in our world.?

Wearein themodern age according to Graber,wheretheuse of various technologies aidsus immensely.With thedevelopment of thesedrones and new advancementsbeing madeevery day,theyarehereto createabetter world.It is undeniablethat we wouldn? t loveto havedrones that can transport emergencysupplies to our homesor hospitals, anywhereand anytime.To achieve thedream of dronedelivering becoming areality,weasa communityneed to accept their assistanceso wemaytake advantageof what theyhaveto offer and benefit from it.

?Iwant them to earn their place,? said Graber.?To show thevalueto societythat Iknow they have.?

Horseflyisacustom-built dronethat isfully integrated with electric deliverytrucks.Imagecourtesy of Workhorse.