this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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Amazon's drone delivery program is the joke it always sounded like. (news.yahoo.com)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
244 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Only one item can be delivered at a time. It can’t weigh more than 5 pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it from 12 feet. The drones can’t fly when it is too hot or too windy or too rainy.

You need to be home to put out the landing target and to make sure that a porch pirate doesn’t make off with your item or that it doesn’t roll into the street (which happened once to Lord and Silverman). But your car can’t be in the driveway. Letting the drone land in the backyard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees.

Amazon has also warned customers that drone delivery is unavailable during periods of high demand for drone delivery.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It raises the question why a drone can't deposit it lower than 12 feet. Is this drone theft control?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

It can't be allowed to fly too close to people, and there's also concerns with interfere, collisions, animals, etc

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Having built commerical drones, it's mainly two things, obstacles and ground effect.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Probably loss of signal from GPS for one, and there are far more obstacles like power lines that can be hit below 12 feet.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Show me where power lines are below 12 feet, except the insulated residential connections.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Here points and gets zapped dead

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Really. Did you just say I couldn’t use the very power lines I was indirectly referencing in order to make yourself right? The very power lines that are closest to the point of delivery - people’s homes?

That’s like saying “there’s no water on land except for the lakes, and you can’t talk about them. “

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Might be a stupid idea, but maybe a cable that extends 12ft down and releases the object at ground level or close to, then retracts to the drone. Surely they have thought of this though