These days, drones have proven to be extremely useful in a variety of situations. Delivery service through drones has been one use that many retail companies have thought about implementing. Recently, Walmart announced that they were launching a delivery program with a drone delivery company called Flytrex. According to USA Today, “Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior vice president of customer products, said the pilot focuses on delivering select grocery and household essential items from Walmart stores” and he claims “‘the drones, which are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard, will help us gain valuable insight into the customer and associate experience – from picking and packing to takeoff and delivery’” (Tyko).
Image Source: Walmart
While Walmart is not the first company to use this kind of technology, it will be interesting to see how everything plays out. Also, it seems as though Walmart is launching this program in opposition to Amazon as Amazon’s “Prime Air” drone delivery service is in development right now. Regardless, in my opinion, being able to see drones delivering packages to anyone anywhere in the future will be a really cool technological advancement. Not to mention, during these days, with a pandemic taking place, the drones will be extremely beneficial in which they will ensure a contactless delivery while still quickly and efficiently bringing packages to people.
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It is a very interesting topic when it comes to drone delivery. The first thing that comes to my mind is many years ago UPS and Amazon are thinking about use drones to deliver their product which will be accurate and fast. The speed of delivery is always the first or the second concern in the market.
All the merchants are thinking about how to improve the delivery speed. For example, at the beginning of Amazon, the shipping speed was generally 3 to 5 days after the order was placed. This has brought a lot of concern to customers, because many people will use the product on the second or third day, so they won’t choose to place an order online. This is a core problem for Amazon.
Until recent years, Amazon has improved its production lines and delivery methods. The company moves the delivery speed up to 1 or 2 days. This solves the problem of if the customer needs the product the next day. The change in shipping speed also brings a lot of customers to Amazon compared to some other companies. So, if the drone can be used to deliver the product or the mail to the customer. The speed must be improved as well.
People will be able to get their products faster or right in the next day. Walmart really had a good idea of delivering the product by drone. The technology has also developed very quickly. If the drone will truly be used on delivery. It will finally bring a lot of convincing for the world, the cities around the area, and the merchants in the country.
https://www.uasvision.com/2018/01/17/10-benefits-of-drone-based-asset-inspections/
I think this is a really good strategy and it is definitely has a big room for development in the future. Having the drone technology instead of having people to deliver can save a lot more cost and provide an efficient service to customers. This made me remember that Uber is designing a self driven car that can be used in Uber and Ubereats.
Especially during this pandemic, safety environment is passenger’s top concern. Sit in a car with a person is very easily to spread the disease. However, with self driving car, this issue could be solved easily.
I think there will be more and more technology to serve people’s life instead of having people to do it. This would be a very big market and will provide many benefits for both people and society.
Source: https://onezero.medium.com/self-driving-ubers-of-the-future-will-deliver-stuff-not-people-6952cdce0fd5
I think the UAV delivery is a very necessary invention in this special period of time. A few years ago, Amazon was studying how to use drones to deliver goods, but only for small items. And Amazon has tried to run the system in a few small places. Indeed, the current level of technology does not support large-scale operation of UAV delivery. Imagine if a user bought a liter of milk, the UAV could not bear the weight. I think although heavy weight is not very supportive, it can provide consumers with some options. Only items smaller than a certain weight can choose UAV delivery.
I think this technology should be put on the market as soon as possible. In this particular period of time, I think the advantage of this technology is not only to bring simple convenience, but also to ensure the personal safety of consumers and delivery personnel. This novel method can effectively reduce the possibility of Covid-19 infection. With this technology, there will be fewer people going to Wal Mart to buy necessities in person, and then there will be no need for deliveryman to deliver goods in person. So this technology can protect people’s health in many ways. We should use it as soon as possible.
Source: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/09/14/walmart-and-zipline-team-up-to-bring-first-of-its-kind-drone-delivery-service-to-the-united-states
When I first read this, the first thing that came to my mind was Amazon. A few years ago, Amazon rumored to be in the process of same day drone deliveries. Now, I dont know how far they got or how much progress they have made, all that I know is I’ve never received a package via drone. If Walmart can figure out a way to perfect this method of delivery, it will not only revolutionize Walmart itself, but also the shopping industry as a whole. Walmart, already being one of the top competitors of in their field, is one huge discovery away from completely taking over the “fast shopping” industry all together. I do not know how far along they are, but I know the demand for same day drone deliveries will be through the roof once made available to the public, and I would like to see how they handle that influx of new customers.
Source: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/09/09/walmart-now-piloting-on-demand-drone-delivery-with-flytrex
While reading this, I immediately thought of Amazon. I remember learning of Amazon’s drone delivery program about a year or two ago, not sure where the process is at with it, but I was very intrigued. For Walmart to do this, almost changes the game in my perspective. While the two entities are enormous and continue to grow in market share, it’s interesting to see just how many aspects of business they can take over before deeming themselves to be too big. Creating a drone delivery system is not the end all be all for these companies, but they already have so many advantages over other companies (to-go grocery services, drone delivery services, online shopping, in person supercenters, clothes/food/accessories, etc.) I wonder when the line is drawn. Regardless, this drone delivery system is still super interesting to see pan out and I cannot wait to hear more about it as they implement it in their daily practices over the years.
I find this very interesting because I think that drones are the future of delivery, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now with contactless delivery, a drone delivering your items seems like the perfect solution! After Amazon brought drones to the company, other companies have begun looking into advanced technology like this as well. The only thing that I question about drone delivery is the amount one drone can carry. Let’s say you order your groceries for the week via drone…would you then have eight different drones delivering to your house? Getting into the technicals like the weight/amount they can carry definitely make me question the idea. I do think that drones will be altered to fix this issue eventually, but for now it is definitely a question to ask oneself.
Another question to ask about drone delivery is about the weather. Will drones be able to deliver through the rain? A thunderstorm? Will a drone even be able to be out in the rain in the first place? Technology nowadays is so advanced that I am sure this is something Walmart has already considered, and with technology constantly progressing I am sure there are already solutions in place to every question stated above.
In short, I think this idea is very intrigueing; and if the questions brought forth are answered/fixed, then I think this is a great idea for no-contact delivery or even if you just don’t have the time to go to the store.
Source:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/09/walmart-drone-delivery-pilot-fayetteville-north-carolina/5752184002/
I think that drones are a really interesting innovation to use for deliveries. It takes a lot of thought when thinking about how to deliver in places like Manhattan or the middle of North Dakota. Navigating the most efficient way to deliver is very important for this to be successful. I think that this advancement can also create more jobs because they need people preparing packages in factories. Bringing factories into new areas can help with low employment rate towns or cities and they can have an opportunity to grow from this in different ways.
It’s also an innovation that will help during this pandemic that is not going away anytime soon. However, what kind of items will these deliveries entail? Drones are not that big so how much can they hold per trip? This is an interesting question I came up with because of how efficient this will be in delivering groceries, toiletries, etc. I can see this being useful in a way where they can deliver pharmacy requests and beauty products and items of that category. According to the this article, “…drones can fly at speeds of 32mph, travel distances of 6.2 miles in a round trip, and carry up to 6.6 pounds…”(Vincent 2020). This is interesting because in the article it is further explained that 6.6 pounds is compared to 6-8 hamburgers. That holds a decent amount of weight but what about the bigger items, I wonder how the app will look like that one chooses from and customizes their order. Perhaps there will be limited items due to the size of the drone.
Dones are a great innovation for more suburban areas however, unfortunately, its hard to see drones flying around major cities any time soon. This brings other safety harms and package misdeliveries which would hurt Walmart’s profits. To conclude, I wonder how Amazon and Walmart will market their drones and provide services that are efficient for everyone.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/10/21430280/walmart-drone-delivery-pilot-program-north-carolina-flytrex
I find it very intersting that walmart is trying this type of delivery. I also agree with the point that you bring up that this technology would be espcially useful since were in a pandemic. However, this knew techonolgy will have a lot of problems attached to it. It runs the risk of packages not being delivered to the right house. While this is already present with today’s mail system, this type of delivery will defnitely increase it. There are also the risks of the package being ruined from weather conditions or from the drone dropping it.
This topic is a great example of our topic in class today, the internet of things. The drone is able to exchange data in order to know the location of the package delivery. Another type of delivery service I think has some potential is the delivery robots that are on the ground. Starship technologies’ robot is a great example of a delivery robot I see having potential
Source: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/09/09/walmart-now-piloting-on-demand-drone-delivery-with-flytrex , https://www.starship.xyz/business/
I find it every interesting that Walmart is the next company that is using a drone for a delivery service. I was always a little bit skeptical of the drone delivery service due to the fact that something could always go wrong with this delivery. The drone could drop the package and something could break or the drone could drop the package off at the wrong door. Using regular delivery people gives less risk to the delivery. I think that using a drone for deliveries is something that will used a lot during the future a lot, but I have not seen it used today. It could making deliveries less expensive but delivery people would no longer have jobs. I think that these drones should be used for food deliveries because they would be much faster than waiting an hour for dinner to be delivered. I think that if Walmart can get the delivery drone to work then it will lead to more technologically advanced deliveries.
I love this idea that using drones to deliver select grocery and household essential items from Walmart stores. However, there must be some kinds of uncertainties involved since this is the first time Walmart tries to develop this revolutionary way of delivery.
With the advantages including efficiency and convenience, there are also many potential dangers or shortcomings behind this idea. First of all, what if the drone encounters birds, kites and other items during the flight? What if it encounters extreme weather? Secondly, the costs must be high if Walmart hopes this idea to be popularize. Thirdly, delivery using drones in city would be difficult because of the denseness of urban high-rise buildings and landscape lighting. I am curious and looking forward to seeing how this idea turns out in the future.
After reading your post I read more into this idea because it really seemed to interest me. The first thing that came into my head while hearing about this was what if the drone crashed, was stolen, or even hacked into? These are three common problems that could happen to any drone.
When you are delivering packages and groceries via truck you know there is a person that is in charge of making sure the products reach where they are supposed to. How do we make that same guarantee when it comes to drone delivery? I also think if we start using this as the main way of delivery then some hackers out there will be able to build a device that can hack into these drones and then reroute the package back to them.
I don’t really see the benefit of drone delivery systems currently. Trucks, airplanes and boats get us our stuff quickly and on time, most of the time. I think adding drones into the mix right now wouldn’t achieve much. However if a company like Walmart could promise the safety in the drone I would definitely reconsider my point. But, I do not think technology is quite there yet.
Source:
https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/technology/will-drones-invade-grocery
First off, I want to say I really like the idea of using drones for delivery services, I’m really just surprised they are only coming now. It definitely makes sense that these are being implemented in today’s society considering things may never be 100% “normal” again, I’ve just always thought about this type of technology being used in the past. Anyway, I think these will be very important for the future of shopping. It just adds another way to make shopping healthier and more efficient. This pandemic has really changed the way some people will live their lives going forward, and these drones call for the least amount of contact between people. From the article I read, it says the drones can only carry about 6.6 pounds, but in times of need, that’s plenty of weight for essentials. The article also states the drone can fly about 32mph and can do round trip deliveries within 6.2 miles. It seems to be very efficient in terms of receiving groceries, I’m more interested to see how this technology advances moving forward. I’d like to think they are working on drones that can carry even more weight and can travel further distances.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/10/21430280/walmart-drone-delivery-pilot-program-north-carolina-flytrex
I think this idea is great, but with every idea, it comes with a lot of red flags and setbacks that need to be addressed and considered before this becomes an idea. First, we have to realize that the mass between the land and outer space is probably the most protected and secure area to ever exist. FAA constantly monitors the airspace of certain areas, requiring clearances, codes, maps, registrations, licenses, and training for just about anything larger than a kite. Drones are a huge red flag for the FAA. Just about anyone can buy a drone with very little training, and fly them anywhere. The hardest part is ensuring those using drones are using them for good. Obviously, Walmart is not planning on using these for harm, rather to deliver goods to customers, but they still have to follow all guidelines. For example, customers living in cities, near airports, near capital and government buildings, or even all of Washington, D.C. are not able to take advantage. This is a huge hurdle for Walmart and the FAA to navigate over, as it could prove fatal if a rouge drone went too close to an airport or airstrip. It all comes back to tracking data of the drones and being able to maintain true social distancing (lol) between flying objects.
Food delivery is a great convenience in today’s fast pace world. It’s so simple for busy individuals who don’t have the time in their day to go pick up food. Food shopping can take a lot of time without even realizing it. The ability to look at an app select the food you want, pay, and then have it at your doorstep not even a few hours later is amazing! I think Walmarts plan to create a drone delivery program is such a great idea. It will not go to waste because people will take advantage of the accessibility of this. For example, today I went to the grocery store, and altogether it took about two hours. Honestly, I didn’t even have two hours to spare in my busy day but I also needed food for the week so I had to suck it up and lose two hours to do so. If I had the option to do drone delivery I so would have rather done that. My only worry with drone delivery is what if they lose the groceries or the drone deliveries it to the wrong address. According to theverge.com, “Each of the drones can fly at speeds of 32 mph, travel distances of 6.2 miles in a round trip, and carry up to 6.6 pounds” (James Vincent). In all, it sounds very effective but I am eager to see how it will end up working.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/10/21430280/walmart-drone-delivery-pilot-program-north-carolina-flytrex
Personally, I believe that drone delivery is the future of delivery. It allows for quicker, safer, and better planned deliveries. However, I still believe that we need to improve much more in order to reach this goal. I suspect that Walmart will have difficulties with this type of delivery due to different circumstances. Firstly, drone navigation technology is not perfect meaning that some of these drones might collide with birds, objects in the air, or even houses/apts/buildings. Secondly, some drones might not be able to reach the precise location of homes due to their locations. This can result on lost deliveries or people getting a wrong order. Thirdly, people who buy from Walmart usually purchase lots of items. Either one drone will have to carry all of these items (which I find hard to believe considering the possible weight) or multiple drones will need to be sent (which raises cost). I think that this is a great idea, but we still need to improve some technological aspects before this becomes a major source of delivery.
I believe that drones delivering and dropping off packages is revolutionary. It has potential to pose so much benefit to society. The main benefit, I believe, will be the dramatically faster delivery times available. I know Amazon specifically said in the future they would be able to deliver some packages within an hour. Especially in the era of COVID-19, this could increase access to items considered vital by some people.
Another impact drone delivery could have is reduced emissions of carbons and fossil fuels. There will be less delivery trucks on the road, emitting less carbon, posing a benefit to our environment. In a world where delivery trucks only exist to bring packages to the warehouse instead of to each individual house would see higher air quality.
I believe one problem with drone delivery could be security of the package. Today’s package thieves usually just grab boxes off of people’s porches, but could we see people taking down drones and stealing the packages they deliver? This is a very important concern I hope companies like Walmart and Amazon are prepared to handle in the future.
I also am interested in how this project turns out. I think that the use of drones in the delivery business is a new and efficient way to get people the things they need. One thing that would benefit from drones it them delivering groceries and goods during natural disasters. If a road is flooded it is nearly impossible for a truck or car to deliver something the customer needs. However, with drones, there is no need for roads. I think that this is a good part of using drones. Especially with a store like Walmart, a store that has virtually anything. Their selection ranges from groceries to electrical needs to decorations even. As you mentioned, the fact that the delivery is contactless is a huge selling point. If Covid spikes up again, Walmart might stand to make some good money off of their drones. Lastly, I think it is bold to try and take on amazon in this area, but Walmart does a better job with groceries, which I think will make it more successful for them. Overall, the topic of your post is intriguing and you did a great job of breaking it down.
I love the idea of having drones deliver packages to my house. I just think that there could be a lot of people who do not like this idea. I think too many people could see this as dangerous because one malfunction and the drone could crash into your house. The drones could accidentally hit someones car or even hit the person and is potentially very dangerous. Will Walmart have to build flight stations around the country when they want to expand so the drones can deliver packages from more places in the country? I would like to see how Walmart plans on expanding to more locations. Overall, I really like the idea of this technology. I think it could improve the speed of how fast items are delivered. It could also see this being very beneficial in our limited contact world right now. This will protect the workers and the people receiving the packages from having encounters. I hope to see this technology come near me one day and have a drone deliver a package to my house.
I think this is one of the many interesting ways that this pandemic has affected the future. Although Amazon has been developing this for a while, Walmart now looking to enter the drone delivery game is no doubt in part to the pandemic. Since March they have started to do even more pickup and delivery and this seems to be them wanting to expand on that.
I think that drone delivery could be great for the future in many situations, but it is something that I do not think should replace all delivery methods. This remote delivery would be great for instances like delivering to sick people, but if it is overused I think it may end up causing more harm than good.
Source:https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-test-drone-delivery-grocery-131411401.html
These drones seem useful during these times and I am interested to see how well they actually work for Walmart. There are lots of questions that I have with this drone like how much it can hold and how far can it travel? I’m interested to see how long these drones will last for and if they will be able to continue to advance the technology with them. Also, if Walmart is successful with the drones, what other companies will do this? I could see Target possibly trying it out but other than that, i’m not sure other companies will be able to, due to the weight of what the drones can hold.
As much as I would LOVE the idea behind this, I just can’t see this going well. With all the crazy weather that could happen, the weight of the items, how easy it could be for someone to just steal the grocery items, etc. There’s just a lot of problems I see happening with this. Imagine someone ordered a full grocery list, are they gonna send 8 drones to that person’s house? Could you imagine how funny/misleading that would look like to normal people? I just don’t see this being successful at all. Maybe in the future, we could have androids or robots personally deliver all these things to us but drones? I just don’t see it.
It seems very cool to have a drone to deliver your grocery, and it will be a good choice to low the risk of exposing to the public during a pandemic. There are many grocery deliver apps become popular recently like Instacart that is an American company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada. (Wikipedia) The big difference between the Instacart and the drone delivery service is the tool to deliver the food. Using a drone to deliver groceries might still not practice from my personal opinions.
The first thing is the design of the drone. Usually, the drone is designed with light materials to reduce wind resistance and improve stability. However, the weight of groceries is not light, especially if there are some can products or beverages. How the light drone supports the heavy lifting will be a question to consider. Besides, it will be a falling object hazard for hanging a heavy bag in the air with a light machine. The other problem will be the no-drone zones, especially in the city. It might cause a limitation for the range of delivery since many places don’t allow the drone to fly.
Even though a company like Flytrex could fix all these problems, I still doubt the necessity. For me, I enjoy going grocery store every week to get my life supplies. Grocery shopping could be a family connection— I went to the grocery store with my mom all the time. Such experience is hard to be replaced by drone delivery.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instacart
https://flytrex.com/projects/north-dakota/
I am very skeptical when it comes to the release of these drones. It is great to see the advancement of technology, but problems always come with it. Do we know how accurately these drowns will be on their course? Can the wind or rain affect them in a negative way? How far will they be able to go, or how high? Will people feel an urge to damage the drone in mid flight, or try to hack into the flight pattern? That will probably happened if someone wants to steal the product. How fast will the drones be flying, and how high? How much weight can they hold? All of these questions will need to be answered before the drones are put into circulation, which I am sure they will be, but they could be a huge safety hazard.
Although there are a lot of questions to be raised, this will be good for competitive business as this will challenge Amazons air delivery. And according the engadget a few of the questions have been answered. The drones as of right now can hold 6.6 pounds and have a good flying track record. And the drones have already received FAA approval for delivering food in the state of North Carolina. So it looks like the drone is clear will be clear dispatch!
Source: https://www.engadget.com/walmart-faa-drone-delivery-pilot-092519813.html
It is interesting to see another company, Walmart, is exploring the use of drones for product delivery. It will be interesting to see how the pilot run in Fayetteville, NC goes and if this kind of delivery can actually improve customer satisfaction. I see how this kind of product is helpful, especially during the pandemic going on. It can provide contactless delivery to people who maybe have the virus or are immunocompromised. However, for daily use, I do not see this type of delivery as a “must-have”.
I can see drone use during times of emergency. For instance, maybe there is a natural disaster going on and it is hard to get to the store. In this case, this system of delivery would be helpful. I also can see this being helpful for people who live far away from grocery stores. If the drone can fly far distances, it could help alleviate their need to drive and spend money on gas just to get their essential groceries.
I see another problem pointed out in an article by The Verge saying, “Each of the drones can fly at speeds of 32 mph, travel distances of 6.2 miles in a round trip, and carry up to 6.6 pounds (that’s roughly “6-8 hamburgers,” according to converted units offered on Flytrex’s own website)”(Vincent, 2020). If it can only hold 6.6 pounds, how will this ever be feasible for grocery delivery purposes?
In my opinion, we will need to see a lot of technological advancement in terms of drones before this becomes a popular delivery option. I know Amazon is also testing out their drones, so it will be interesting to see how their trial runs go. For now, businesses seem to be continuing to come out with more and more interesting ways to ensure contactless service that maybe aren’t so expensive and will stick for years to come.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/10/21430280/walmart-drone-delivery-pilot-program-north-carolina-flytrex