Tag: Amazon

One Punch Man, Jeremy Clarkson have one thing in common

One Punch Man, Jeremy Clarkson have one thing in common

November 30, 2015 12:28 | By | Add a Comment

Jeremy Clarkson is now working for Amazon, creating a new show with his unique brand of humor. And when he’s not bashing electric vehicles he’s busy announcing things for his new employer. This time it’s Amazon’s new hybrid delivery drone prototype, which combines VTOL capabilities of multicopters with the long range of winged airframes.

amazon_drone

This comes to no surprise for industry experts due to the fact that powered hover flight using a quad rotor system is 10 times less efficient than a single motor pushing a winged aircraft. Thus it makes sense to combine the two in a hybrid approach. This in itself is not new, though it’s the first time we see Amazon go for this approach. Check out the video after the break.

In other news, “One Punch Man” is a japanese anime about a superhero with the unique dilemma that he’s too powerful and thus able to kill any opponent with a single punch. The writers of this manga jumped on the bandwagon, and depict a possible scenario for delivering low-value mail like fan letters. In the anime adaptation, it looks like this:

opm_drone

Now that delivery drones have made it into popular culture, when do you think this or something like it will become the norm?

Minor nitpick: The cargo and main electronics appear to be located forward of the CG, which doesn’t look like an optimal design 😉

 

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Alibaba is a year late, also tests drone delivery

Alibaba is a year late, also tests drone delivery

February 4, 2015 10:44 | By | Add a Comment

Alibaba, the chinese online merchant / trade portal, had a fantastic launch on the stock market last year, with over 500 million customers and a net worth of over 200 billion USD, more than Coca Cola or Disney. Now they’re testing drone delivery, much like Amazon and DHL before them. A total of 450 customers were able to register for the special air-drop delivery, though the drone only flies from the outskirts of Peking to the China World Trade Center, where it is then picked up and delivered by a regular courier.

But hey, at least they produced a snazzy and mildly entertaining ad video. Notice the synchronously-waving guys at 00:45 🙂

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Amazon Drone delivery for you…

Amazon Drone delivery for you…

January 30, 2014 22:11 | By | Add a Comment

amazondrone

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The right answer to Amazon Prime Air

The right answer to Amazon Prime Air

December 15, 2013 15:25 | By | Add a Comment

…is that it’s all just that: Hot air. And at last, someone made a proper parody video about it.

erc1

The folks at ERC recently released this spoof announcement, which one has to say, is just about as legit and serious as the recent advertisement coup landed by Amazon. Except they will probably not get free ad space in every major newspaper.

Check out the video after the break.

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Amazon Prime Air in practice

Amazon Prime Air in practice

December 10, 2013 9:44 | By | Add a Comment

Via thedronenews.com

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UPS announces: “Me too!”

UPS announces: “Me too!”

December 4, 2013 13:53 | By | Add a Comment

In a statement to TheVerge, a UPS spokesman stated that UPS, too, is playing with the idea of using multicopters for small parcel delivery.

“The commercial use of drones is an interesting technology and we’ll continue to evaluate it. UPS invests more in technology than any other company in the delivery business, and we’re always planning for the future.”

Aside from this being an obvious “me too” statement in response to Amazon’s well-executed PR maneuver, DJI has announced that they could produce suitable models within “18 to 24 months”. The question now is: Who else will make such an announcement next? It’s not too late for sticking a company logo on a multirotor craft for some nice press shots…

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Amazon tinkers with multicopters for airborne delivery

Amazon tinkers with multicopters for airborne delivery

December 2, 2013 9:22 | By | Add a Comment

Dubbed “Amazon Prime Air”, the company’s latest delivery scheme uses multicopters to deliver packages in under 30 minutes. At least, that’s the lofty goal of the company. The play to have a fleet of octocopters that pick up appropriately-sized orders from the fulfillment center and fly it straight to the customer. According to the CEO Jeff Bezos the aim is for such a service to go operational within four years – a pretty optimistic goal considering the FAA will have a word or two to say in this matter, and they’re usually not quite the fast responder when it comes to policy changes.

Check out the fancy demo video after the break.

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