What began as a project to deliver defibrillators to heart attack victims has since been expanded to include, well, home delivery by 2017. (It seems 2017 is the year the world will change.) The drone kind of looks like an upright stingray, but Project Wing is a high-tech little drone that will even ‘follow rules’ while following a programmed route at the mere push of a button. But Google has some fierce competition from the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon.
How It Works
- Project Wing’s aircraft have a wingspan of approximately 1.5m (4.9ft) and have four electrically-driven propellers.
- The total weight, including the package to be delivered, is approximately 10kg (22lb).
- The aircraft itself accounts for the bulk of that at 8.5kg (18.7lb).
- The hybrid ‘tail sitter’ design has wings for fast forward flight, and rotors for hovering for delivery and vertical take-off and landing.
- Dual mode operation gives the self-flying vehicle some of the benefits of both planes and helicopters.
- It can take off or land without a runway, and can hold its position hovering in one spot to gently drop packages.
- Packages are stored in the drone’s ‘belly’ then dropped on a string before being gently lowered to the ground.
- At the end of the tether, there’s a little bundle of electronics the team call the ‘egg,’ which detects that the package has hit the ground, detaches from the delivery, and is pulled back up into the body of the vehicle.
It’s quite cute, hey?
[source: dailymail]
