Klattu Anchovie Pepperoni..
Posted on 06/18/2013 9:47:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Yeah, but could it deliver your order in 30 minutes or less?
A handful of UC San Diego engineering students hungry to get in on the movement to design drones that can do something other than spy on people drafted plans for an autonomous vehicle that's meant to deliver hot pizza to customers up to five miles away.
"We want to deliver pizza faster, and to reduce the amount of gas that's now burned by delivery trucks and cars," says Humerto Sainz, one of the four students who came up with the design for a mechanical and aerospace engineering class at UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering.
Currently, there are no plans to build the battery-powered drone; Sainz, Ngoc Nguyen, Ahmad Rahimi and David Long simply came up with the idea for a senior design class. But it wouldn't take much to produce a prototype. The team envisions placing pizza in a thin box that would be propelled through the air up to 35 mph by four small rotors. Software would calculate the most direct route from the pizza parlor to the customer. And a GPS system would direct the pizza to the person who ordered it. All the customer would have to do is tell the drone, via text message, that they were ready for delivery.
The drone would then zip back to the parlor to pick up another pizza.
At least, that's how things would work if everything went well. There are "issues." The drone's operators would have to make sure that the vehicle didn't rise above roughly 100 feet. Otherwise, they would be violating laws enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Weather also is a big concern, especially really, really strong winds," said Rahimi. "The drone would have to be stable in order for it to fly right."
The UCSD engineering team will have to get to work if they want to cash in on the idea. A Dominos franchise in the United Kingdom has already used a tiny autonomous helicopter to deliver a couple of pizzas during a flight test. The flight was a publicity stunt. But ingenuity isn't limited to pizza chains.
“The drone’s operators would have to make sure that the vehicle didn’t rise above roughly 100 feet. Otherwise, they would be violating laws enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration.”
100 feet? That’s a bunch of baloney. R/C airplanes can fly up to 400 feet.
Ahh the future of America!
What could possibly go wreong?
I propose jet powered tacos.
Klattu Anchovie Pepperoni..
There are some jobs that drones just won't do.
Drones are more fertile!
A new sport is born: Pizza drone hunting.
I predict shooting down delivery drones will become a great sport in our thug controlled cities.
It got me to thinking what is the best way to shoot down a drone & salvage the cargo? Not that I would do such a thing.
A gun might do too much damage. Bird shot would ruin a pizza.
I'm thinking a beanbag gun or one of those water balloon launchers. A kamikaze R/C plane would do the trick. Perhaps a trained bird with a drop net!
(Note to NSA spies: I'm just having fun with my imagination.)
How about just grabbing the pizza, Putin style, and leaving the drone fly to it’s destination without it’s cargo?
I bet that in the future, the most common technique to down a drone will be to simply use a gun. Whatever works against birds should work against drones. This has obvious downsides, especially in urban areas. And as you note, the gun technique would probably ruin a pizza.
I have been thinking of ways that one drone might be used to down another. Given the excellent remote video capabilities of modern drones, a fast pursuit drone should be able to land on top of a slower target drone in flight. Downward projecting spikes could be pushed into the target drone propellers. Or, add a flat plate to the bottom of the pursuit drone with a sticky flexible sheet (think flypaper) on its bottom, sticky side down. The sticky sheet should have holes in it to permit a bit of air to get through, so the partial vacuum above the target drone's propellers will tend to hold the sheet in place, along with the adhesive. The pursuit drone releases the sticky sheet after it is in place, and the target drone drops like a rock. Sticky cotton balls could be used instead.
(Note to NSA spies: I'm just having fun with my imagination.)
(Note to NSA spies: I am an American citizen. Spy elsewhere.)
Pizza Hut is already experimenting with this in the U.K.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.