The drone invasion, it seems, might be more enjoyable than expected. According to what the Sydney Morning Herald, flying robots could soon bombard us with pizzas, tacos and cold beer.
Drones – a popular name for a wide range of remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicles – are used only in the military. And even if, in the collective imagination, they are seen as huge and lethal steel machines, the smallest members of the family are spreading more and more in the civilized world. And they are doing so in ways so colorful that they could revolutionize the modern delivery and transport system, from the newspaper that is delivered to your doorstep to the medicines that have to be transported to remote regions.
The way drones are used is now bordering on the surreal. Last year a new startup with a rather bizarre name was announced: Tacocopter. Here's how it works: just order Mexican food via a smartphone app and soon a helicopter – mini, that is – will be delivering tacos to the hungry.
But the dream of take-away drone dinners doesn't end there. There CNN tells of two Yelp engineers working on a project with a very clear name: Burrito Bomber. And the American pizza giant Domino has already announced the Domicopter, a helicopter with eight propellers (four more than the Tacocopter, since pizzas weigh more). There is also a video lesson of the prototype in action, which heroically travels six kilometers in 10 minutes, to deliver a still warm daisy.
The practice, however, is not the usual crazy stars and stripes project. A London restaurant is already planning to have a drone waiter carrying sushi plates on four helixes. And in South Africa, those attending the OppiKoppi Music Festival will be able to parachute an iced drink with a message from their smartphone. However, the co-founder of Darkwing Aerials, the company that runs the festival's drone service, admitted that "the technology works well, but it's more of a marketing strategy than a way to give beer to the masses."
However, the use of flying robots for frivolous uses, however popular, is not exactly revolutionary. For the moment, it is more of a novelty to be exploited on an advertising level. But the real chances of finding the skies clogged with drones delivering pizzas is – fortunately or unfortunately – still remote.
The surgical warfare of drones armed with tacos is therefore far away. Yet there are companies that intend to exploit the potential of unmanned aircraft to revolutionize – and perhaps even resurrect – services such as pony express in remote places where creating 50 mini-helicopter stations is cheaper than building a one-lane road. Yet in the same remote places, for the moment, drones are often present, but they do not drop postal parcels.
