Parachute-parcels
Amazon has been awarded yet another delivery drone-related patent. PThe US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) yesterday (14 February) granted Amazon a patent for “a package delivery system [that] can be implemented to forcefully propel a package from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), while the UAV is in motion”.
Essentially, Amazon patent envisages a system where packages will be dropped using a parachute while the drone continues on its journey. This would make the delivery process faster and also mean that you don’t need a landing site for the drone.
However, as observers have been quick to point out, having packages dropping out of the sky (even if their rate of descent is reduced and controlled by “pneumatic actuators, electromagnets, spring coils, and parachutes”) will also present logistics and legal issues.
The patent (number 9,567,081) was filed on 26 June 2015. As previously reported, it is the latest in a flurry of drone-related patents that Amazon has accrued recently. And, in addition to the patent pipe dreams, Amazon has also been making real-world progress with trials of its Prime Air drones in Cambridgeshire.
