Amazon files patent for flying warehouse(bbc.co.uk)
bbc.co.uk
Amazon files patent for flying warehouse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38458867
62 comments
Having beer and brats delivered to your tailgate party at a baseball game by an Amazon blimp and drone sounds pretty awesome.
It sounds quite ambitious with current technology of drones but if successful could really change the landscape of public events. I wonder how long it would be before the NFL banned them from selling merchandise at games.
It sounds quite ambitious with current technology of drones but if successful could really change the landscape of public events. I wonder how long it would be before the NFL banned them from selling merchandise at games.
That was my first reading as well. I also envisioned tiny drones delivering hot dogs or single beers. But I realized they're probably talking about a much bigger need that arises when an event occurs.
I worked in catering and behind the scenes for large events in some big stadiums. A huge part of stadiums and venues is devoted to storage for inventory of things: food, beverage, apparel, merchandise, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and so on.
When a big game or event occurs, you need to have tens of thousands of t-shirts, thousands of rolls of toilet paper, thousands of hotdogs, hundreds of kegs, and more.
The logistics, manpower, and square footage behind the delivery, storage, and receipt of these goods is no small thing.
Rather than knowing you're going to want 45,000 T-Shirts on Sunday and ordering, receiving, handling, and storing that inventory ahead of time, the AFC would simply move into place at an appropriate time and delivery would be able to occur as soon as the AFC arrived.
You wouldn't need to store hundreds of thousands of "things," as the day before the event, you would be able to have the AFC parked at your location, with the inventory that would've otherwise been shipped to you and stored onsite, and you can simply unload to the appropriate points of usage or sale.
It would be akin to simply unloading it from the "truck" and putting it where it needs to be used for the day or the next day. This is what occurs for smaller events and at smaller venues and having a massive "truck" to unload from, with automated unloaders, would be quite an interesting evolution to this large scale problem.
Keep in mind this is helping out for events that are already planned that have a well understood set of needs. The possibilities for events that are not planned, like disaster relief, or humanitarian aid, would also be very interesting applications.
"Floating warehouse" not just "floating store."
I worked in catering and behind the scenes for large events in some big stadiums. A huge part of stadiums and venues is devoted to storage for inventory of things: food, beverage, apparel, merchandise, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and so on.
When a big game or event occurs, you need to have tens of thousands of t-shirts, thousands of rolls of toilet paper, thousands of hotdogs, hundreds of kegs, and more.
The logistics, manpower, and square footage behind the delivery, storage, and receipt of these goods is no small thing.
Rather than knowing you're going to want 45,000 T-Shirts on Sunday and ordering, receiving, handling, and storing that inventory ahead of time, the AFC would simply move into place at an appropriate time and delivery would be able to occur as soon as the AFC arrived.
You wouldn't need to store hundreds of thousands of "things," as the day before the event, you would be able to have the AFC parked at your location, with the inventory that would've otherwise been shipped to you and stored onsite, and you can simply unload to the appropriate points of usage or sale.
It would be akin to simply unloading it from the "truck" and putting it where it needs to be used for the day or the next day. This is what occurs for smaller events and at smaller venues and having a massive "truck" to unload from, with automated unloaders, would be quite an interesting evolution to this large scale problem.
Keep in mind this is helping out for events that are already planned that have a well understood set of needs. The possibilities for events that are not planned, like disaster relief, or humanitarian aid, would also be very interesting applications.
"Floating warehouse" not just "floating store."
I'm not sure it sounds awesome so much as dystopian consumerism with the skies buzzing so that tailgaters can get their fixes without walking a few steps.
That's probably grouchy of me; I am a regular user of Amazon Prime. But there probably is some limit to instant wish fulfillment especially to the degree it makes the environment less pleasant for everyone.
That's probably grouchy of me; I am a regular user of Amazon Prime. But there probably is some limit to instant wish fulfillment especially to the degree it makes the environment less pleasant for everyone.
I wonder if there were people who felt the same way about telephones and immediate long distance communication :-)
> Having beer and brats delivered to your tailgate party at a baseball game by an Amazon blimp and drone sounds pretty awesome
It does sound pretty awesome - but after the novelty wears off, is this a viable business?
If you're going to a tailgate party, chances are you're going to bring the food with you - after all, Amazon is going to have to charge some additional delivery fee vs. you just picking things up at your local store.
It does sound pretty awesome - but after the novelty wears off, is this a viable business?
If you're going to a tailgate party, chances are you're going to bring the food with you - after all, Amazon is going to have to charge some additional delivery fee vs. you just picking things up at your local store.
The store has to charge an additional fee for having a retail location.
Well, you can go browse the Amazon Fresh selection, and compare it to your local grocery store. Things are considerably more expensive on Amazon Fresh - you're paying for convenience.
The cost of a blimp to have a refrigeration system onboard, the cost of carrying brats around just in case someone orders them, plus the cost of the drone to make a special trip down to you all adds cost on top of the base food item price.
That doesn't even take into account the cost to Amazon to purchase the brats in the first place, and have them shipped/trucked to their facilities before loading onto this blimp. The grocery store pays this same acquisition fee, and pays for storage, but that's about it.
Right now, you even have to pay an additional fee just to use Amazon Fresh - again, because it's the convenience you're paying for.
So, I'd wager, after people use the service a few times for kicks, they'll get tired of paying more for the novelty of a drone delivery to their car in a parking lot... and go back to using regular grocery stores. This drone delivery thing is probably better for last-second/forgotten items - but again, that's the convenience your're paying for.
The cost of a blimp to have a refrigeration system onboard, the cost of carrying brats around just in case someone orders them, plus the cost of the drone to make a special trip down to you all adds cost on top of the base food item price.
That doesn't even take into account the cost to Amazon to purchase the brats in the first place, and have them shipped/trucked to their facilities before loading onto this blimp. The grocery store pays this same acquisition fee, and pays for storage, but that's about it.
Right now, you even have to pay an additional fee just to use Amazon Fresh - again, because it's the convenience you're paying for.
So, I'd wager, after people use the service a few times for kicks, they'll get tired of paying more for the novelty of a drone delivery to their car in a parking lot... and go back to using regular grocery stores. This drone delivery thing is probably better for last-second/forgotten items - but again, that's the convenience your're paying for.
Need a cold beer quick? Call Beer Drone!
I proposed this during an idea hackathon at amazon 4.5 years ago, and got laughed at.
I also proposed drone delivery at the same hackathon - though granted, not delivering from the FC, but having drones deliver the "last 1/20th of a mile" from a delivery truck to the persons door, so the truck could just roll down the street without the driver stopping every 50 feet, and the drones could constantly be recharged. Gur Kimchi(who went on to lead some of the amazon drone business) was my VP at the time, told me it was a silly idea :(
Oh well, ideas are cheap.
I also proposed drone delivery at the same hackathon - though granted, not delivering from the FC, but having drones deliver the "last 1/20th of a mile" from a delivery truck to the persons door, so the truck could just roll down the street without the driver stopping every 50 feet, and the drones could constantly be recharged. Gur Kimchi(who went on to lead some of the amazon drone business) was my VP at the time, told me it was a silly idea :(
Oh well, ideas are cheap.
The best part of this is they felt like they needed to patent this idea. Tell me, what other company would be crazy or ambitious enough to even attempt this?
Amazon files a lot of patents. Most of which never actually end up being used. It's not that they're not viable, it's that sometimes better options are discovered.
In no small part it's building up a nuclear arsenal, as it were. With the way patents are being used to attack companies and extort them, having many patents in your arsenal gives others pause for thought as the odds of there not being something you're doing that isn't covered by a patent they hold gets lower and lower all the time.
In no small part it's building up a nuclear arsenal, as it were. With the way patents are being used to attack companies and extort them, having many patents in your arsenal gives others pause for thought as the odds of there not being something you're doing that isn't covered by a patent they hold gets lower and lower all the time.
While this is true, we need to de-weaponize our patent system and restore its original purpose of protecting innovators (especially and specifically small innovators) rather than forcing everyone to acquire a defensive arsenal of nuclear IP, and hoping they never decide to take a "best defense is a good offense" approach.
No argument from me there.
Plenty. Others are even further along... I can't talk about the one I know deeply about, but here's a public resource about another from Lockheed: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/HybridAirship.html
Probably at Amazon level the main problem is not legitimate competition but patent trolls. Better to be on safe side and just patent everything.
A true cloud storage platform. Reasonably high bandwidth provided by drones carrying 8TB hard drives.
Can we have some laws please for visual sky pollution, before it is too late?
Idiocracy, coming to America faster than Mike Judge ever anticipated.
Yes, just like we should have decided social media laws in the age of MySpace. /s
Or when tracking ads became a thing.
Agree. I don't want these things cluttering up my view of the sky.
I am an LTA Aerospace Mechanical System Specialist and I will just say, what they have set out to accomplish will prove much harder than what Blue Origin has accomplished. Yet they do not know that yet because the LTA industry is a very niche industry and only a few really experts in the field who understand what it really takes to keep these systems alive against our unforgiving mother of nature.
Carrier has arrived.
Amazon are steadily reducing delivery times, aiming for fewer and fewer numbers of hours, now, rather than days. The patent is clearly a part of that effort. Are there any other companies so dedicated to that goal?
I really worry about data privacy -- it's trivial for Amazon to capture tons of video of people and use this for a variety of purposes. It's like street view but with a million more cameras that can be positioned on demand. I think we need more policy around our rights to images of ourselves... in particular I think we are reaching a phase in human society where data is an extension of the human self rather than existing as a foreign object. Existing laws and judicial philosophy need to be amended to reflect this fact.
The pace of technical change in society has greatly outpaced the ability of our legislative and judicial systems to cope with it. While I hate to say it, as the difficulty of passing law is an important protection from an overzealous government, we need to find some way to get these things expedited (and expedited like in real person terms, not legal terms where an expeditious case is one that is finally resolved 5 years later -- many cases stretch on for ~10 years after accounting for appeals, etc., and some even longer).
It'd be a really interesting thought experiment to try to revise our legal systems in a way that allows them to match the pace of technical change whilst keeping protections from government overreach in place.
It'd be a really interesting thought experiment to try to revise our legal systems in a way that allows them to match the pace of technical change whilst keeping protections from government overreach in place.
What happened to having at least a working prototype before you can file a patent? Can I patent deep sea warehouses (with pipelines linking them to continents) just because I have the idea?
In the USA, it seems all you need is to dream up something.
That's just a diagram of the mother ship from Independence Day!
All kidding aside, this looks awesome. I know drone delivery has its concerns, and there will always be naysayers on any new technology, but I'm excited about the ways in which drones can start improving our lives.
All kidding aside, this looks awesome. I know drone delivery has its concerns, and there will always be naysayers on any new technology, but I'm excited about the ways in which drones can start improving our lives.
Now I know Bezos is just trolling us. What's next, fantastical steam powered difference engines sorting packages for delivery? :-)
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So should this be patentable?
Regardless of whether it's a good idea, is it novel, and non-obvious?
Regardless of whether it's a good idea, is it novel, and non-obvious?
This is gonna be hard to patent troll, but I’m sure they’ll find a way.
They filed for a blimp w/ a place for storage?
You are talking about the company that filed a patent for 1-click ordering. Honestly, its a blimp with a place for storage and the ability to launch drones.
Hm I forgot about that one-click thing. Still annoys me >:|
Amazon are steadfastly driving delivery times down, by whatever means necessary. They seem to be the only company striving so hard, and it's to their credit. The patent appears to be an extension of that.
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This scheme could be economical, reliable, and (finally) a great use for airships besides overhead stadium camera angles.
The airships, themselves, could even be drones.
The airships, themselves, could even be drones.
I respect amazon's audaciousness with this idea but I think it might be better to stick to the ground as the drone needs to go somewhere once its done and to go up is probably not optimal.
I think the theory is that it uses no power while it is coming down heavy. Going back up with no payload is easy.
The potential energy stored by the height of the airship is the solution to the battery problem. It might also solve much of the noise and air traffic problem if these drones are basically floating down silently from above, and then with no cargo they can head back up either loudly but instantly or quietly and calmly.
The potential energy stored by the height of the airship is the solution to the battery problem. It might also solve much of the noise and air traffic problem if these drones are basically floating down silently from above, and then with no cargo they can head back up either loudly but instantly or quietly and calmly.
According to the patent, the drones would not fly back up to the airship but rather they would fly to collection center on land, be loaded into a smaller ship with other supplies and then flown back to the large airship. Presumably with the energy saved from gliding rather than flying to their delivery destination they'd have more range to make it to collection centers that are more sparse then if they just flew back and forth from the centers themselves.
Holy shit this is literally from Storks
I should file a patent for the orbiting warehouse ... and the submarine warehouse too.
I know it's very slippery-slope in nature, but drone deliveries bother me. I think of them being great theft targets, then of course they need to defend themselves, then we've got armed drones delivering packages. This would advance the "theft target" part greatly.
Or, you know, insurance. But sure, let's put missile launchers on them instead.
I foresee anti-theft measures being more like the drone rendering itself useless/calling home if stolen or captured. Also marking the parts with amazon identification so you know they are stolen. It's no different from stealing the mailman's truck when he gets out to make a delivery, and mail trucks don't need "defense" built in.
People aren't talking about stealing the drones - rather, stealing the goods the drone is carrying.
Unless you're assuming an awesome future with net guns fired from pirate drones, downing the Amazon drones and stealing their wares, this is just the same package theft issue that already exists.
With the exception that the human factor is removed. I have to imagine the number of teenage kids who'd take an en route drone out of the sky is greater than the number that would attack a UPS driver or steal from someone's door.
On the other hand, a drone can safely land in a fenced-in backyard and deliver a package without needing to leave it at the front door for the entire world to snatch. This reduces the problem of drone and package theft.
If drone delivery does become ubiquitous, I'd imagine some kind of drone rooftop helipad with a package shoot into the house/apartment would quickly become standardized ... or something along those lines.
If drone delivery does become ubiquitous, I'd imagine some kind of drone rooftop helipad with a package shoot into the house/apartment would quickly become standardized ... or something along those lines.
If the back yard is accessible to delivery drones wouldn't it just as easily be accessible to a thief's drone?
Yes, provided the thief is aware a package exists and has a drone of similar capabilities ... this is why I used the term reduces. But with ubiquitous drone delivery, I'm sure we'd have some sort of ubiquitous delivery storage unit.
The recipient could have a locked box that only opens via Amazon-drone authentication. This could also provide a target visual, or homing beacon, for the drone.
Defense could quite practically be a mostly light weight housing that could take a hit or two, and using ducted fans because they're safer and give real good performance. I also imagine that a drone would have a set of cameras for dealing with the hazards of delivery, and would be programmed to avoid people in general, so it would be rare that you could get into a situation where a drone could be stolen.
We already have unarmed delivery drivers, packages left in a lobby, delivery trucks left with the door open while delivery drivers are transporting packages to various building. For drones to be a large theft target then people have to want to steal and steal unknown packages. It seems like a lot more effort to get a drone out of the sky than to grab a couple boxes out of a mail truck.
Imagine the fun a hacker could have if they penetrated the systems running the drones.
It uses the familiar UAV for "unmanned aerial vehicles" and introduces AFC for "aerial fulfillment center."
They have visions of the AFCs not only being placed above metropolitan areas where people can simply browse the inventories of them, but actually moving into place in on demand scenarios:
"An AFC may navigate to an area based on various positioning factors. For example, a temporal event (e.g., a football game) may be expected to produce a demand for certain types of items (e.g., sporting paraphernalia, food products, etc.). In advance of the event, the items may be delivered to the AFC in a quantity sufficient to satisfy the expected demand and the AFC may navigate to a position such that UAVs deployed from the AFC can safely navigate to the location of the event and deliver the items, thereby satisfying the demand. In some implementations, the AFC may navigate to a lower altitude and provide advertising for the temporal event or for other occasions (e.g., product announcements, product releases, sales)."
Very reminiscent of carriers from StarCraft slowly lumbering into position and releasing robotic fleets from their bowels.
But they don't stop at just advertising for these "temporal events." Bringing up visions of the omnipresent geisha blimp from Blade Runner, they describe ways in which ads can be displayed around 2,000 feet in the air above cities as well.
There's language like "docking bays" and "dirigibles" in a world with shuttles going to and from AFCs, charging and repairing UAVs autonomously.
The patent is a long read, as patents tend to be, but definitely fun if you're into this sort of stuff.
[1] - http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=...