Forget Amazon, drone delivery will take off in Africa

The 1965 film comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, centres on a fictional air race between Paris and London in 1910 that offered competitors the chance to become "number one in the air" and win a £10,000 prize.

More than a century later, there is another race to be "number one in the air", but it has nothing to do with British crackpot pilots flying across the English Channel. The new arena for aerial supremacy is Africa, where drone developers are fighting in the skies.

Whether it's tracking poachers, monitoring potential terrorists or patrolling pirate-run waters, governments from Ghana to Ethiopia to Uganda are using drones as an economic alternative to a fully equipped air force

The militarisation of African skies comes with the full backing of the US, which provides advisers and sells drones, but it is another aspect of African life that provides a more uplifting story of how drones are beginning to revolutionise everyday life.

Amazon Testing Drone Delivery Systemdjgabrielpresents

The potential of drones in the West and out of Africa has been defined by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. At the end of 2013 he announced "Amazon Prime Air", a programme that promised deliveries of 2.5kg within 30 minutes if customers were within 10 miles of the Amazon fulfilment centre.

While there is divided opinion about whether Bezos' statement was Amazon's immediate strategy or future-gazing that owed more to PR than reality, in Africa the notion of delivery by drones is being taken very seriously indeed.

The extraordinary acceleration of mobile phone ownership in Africa has transformed the continent. According to a December 2013 report by TA Telecom, mobile phone penetration is now more than 80 percent and means that fixed-line internet infrastructure is unlikely to happen. 

The same is likely to go for transportation. Why build expensive roads to remote rural locations when drones can do the job just as well? The market is there if this can be achieved. In Nigeria, where there is no postal service, ecommerce companies such as Konga and Jumia are undergoing explosive growth in a country of almost 170 million people.

This growth is likely to be further accelerated if these companies, or one that nobody has heard of, can harness drone delivery and become the "Amazon of Africa". The African trade routes of the near-future are almost certainly going to be in the air, not on unreliable roads or routes that have yet to be built.

Jonathan Ledgard is the Director of Future Africa at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology based in Lausanne. As an ex-correspondent of The Economist for nearly 20 years, of which the last ten were in Africa, Ledgard understands Africa.

He cites previous mobile user predictions as evidence of how quickly things move there. Safaricom is one of the biggest operators on the continent and now has more than 17 million subscribers, a number that nobody predicted.

"The most optimistic figures of the Safaricom business model in 2002 were 400,000 users in the next decade and while drone delivery won't solve the question of land rights, food security or water rights, it could have a huge influence.

"Africa's population will double in our working lives and its economy will quadruple in that time and while a $15-20 (£9-12) basic mobile phone is a powerful piece of technology, the future for Africans is robotics. Precision mechanical engineering is not Africa's forte, but there is something about Africa that takes a relatively normal set of mechanisms, then hacks and improves them," he says.

Robotic drone delivery in Africa is likely to be accelerated by this year's Flying Donkey Challenge, an escalating series of sub-challenges held annually in Africa. World-leading roboticists, engineers, regulators, entrepreneurs, logisticians, and designers win substantial grants by advancing the safety, durability, legality, profitability and friendliness of cargo robots.

These sub-challenges will culminate in a race of these "flying donkeys" around Mount Kenya in under 24 hours, delivering and collecting 20 kilo payloads along the way. The winner(s) will collect a multi-million dollar prize and a helping hand up the ladder to ecommerce domination.

"Africa is fast becoming an adopter of cutting-edge technologies to overcome its infrastructure gap. Commercial drone technology has strong potential here to help overcome the limitations of the continent's transportation infrastructure and deliver goods and services in remote or regions -- spurring new models for business and service delivery," explained Kamal Bhattacharya, Director, IBM Research, Africa.

"But for drone technology to meet its potential in Africa, we need thorough understanding of the impact of factors such as weather, terrain, demographics and transportation networks; an area that IBM is researching with its latest cognitive computing systems."

Interestingly, it is not the technology of flying donkey robotics that is demanding, rather getting reliability, expectations and price points right. One way of doing this is by comparing drones with the fleets of motorbikes that serve African health ministries, a strong bellwether for a drone business model.

According to Ledgard at Future Africa, in 2020 the purchase price of a flying donkey will be less than $2,500 (£1,500). Running costs including training, logistics, fuel, spare parts will be under 40 cents per kilometre and able to travel 50,000 kilometres over five years without a major breakdown. This model compares favourably to the number of health ministry motorbikes that are ruined by the state of African roads. 

"Infrastructure is without a doubt one of the greatest challenges facing the continent. Commerce each and every day is held back by poor infrastructure, from roads and rail, to water systems and ICT networks, costing Africa an estimated $40 billion (£24.3 billion) in lost GDP every year," said Angolan philanthropist Álvaro Sobrinho, chairman of UK charity Planet Earth Institute. "No idea should be off the table, delivery drones have the potential to offer a significant boost to African commerce. Delivering and receiving goods in this way could offer a crucial, all year round lifeline to business."

More than a century later, the race to be "number one in the air" will create an ecommerce behemoth and bring many changes to business in Africa. Drones may not be magnificent machines compared to the flying machines at the beginning of last century, but their influence will be felt for the rest of the 21st Century.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-02/13/africa-drone

FAA Grounds Valentine’s Flower Delivery Drone

COMMERCE TWP. (WWJ) – A Commerce Township floral delivery company says the Federal Aviation Administration has grounded its experiment in delivering flowers by unmanned mini-helicopter.

FlowerDeliveryExpress.com said the FAA has informed them that commercial drone use is only allowed on a pre-authorized, case-by-case basis — and told the company to knock it off.

“Cupid’s wings have been clipped,” said the company’s CEO, Wesley Berry.

But at least the FAA was nice about it, Berry said. “The FAA was extremely professional and polite,” he said. “I couldn’t have been chastised in a nicer way.”

Berry said he agreed with the FAA’s characterization of delivery drones as “flying food processors” and that drone delivery operators probably need regulation — like training to avoid mishaps and insurance should they occur.

FlowerDeliveryExpress.com had intended to deliver as many free rose bouquets as possible to its beta test group on Valentine’s Day to benchmark the delivery capacity of its drone. The company currently uses traditional delivery methods to serve several million other customers across the country.

Berry said the FAA didn’t tell him when they might come up with regulations that would allow drone delivery — but said the FAA told him it is “actively working on it. This technology is here to stay. When the time is right, we’ll be ready for orders to be delivered, not by an address, but by GPS coordinates. It’s exciting to plan the future of the business based on this emerging technology.”

Berry’s other delivery methods in development include trucks carrying pre-made bouquets for rapid delivery.

FlowerDeliveryExpress.com has launched a consumer beta program to test alternative delivery methods and other development efforts. Consumers can sign up for the beta test group athttp://www.FlowerDeliveryExpress.com/beta. Participation is not guaranteed, and you must be a U.S. resident.

The drone flower delivery, which took place Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014 in metro Detroit, can be viewed on YouTube here: http://bit.ly/1lXLQgn.

Berry also owns Wesley Berry Flowers, a Detroit-based brick-and-mortar florist established by his family in 1946. The company has four stores, including one downtown in the Penobscot Building and another in the Schoolcraft-Greenfield area of Detroit. But Berry said that 98 percent of his company’s business is now done via the website.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/02/13/faa-grounds-valentines-flower-delivery-express-drone/

Dubai's Drone Delivery Idea Might Be Slightly Less Crazy Than Amazon's

Jeff Bezos has some new competition in the crazy drone delivery race. Dubai officials want to start using drones to deliver government documents by next year. And while Amazon's drone delivery program probably won't happen, Dubai's equally-crazy plan might have a slightly better shot at getting off the ground.

The idea is to use quadcopter drones to deliver "small, light value things that are time sensitive, like medicines, identification documents, vital papers and things of that nature," Dr Noah Raford, special adviser to the Office of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, toldThe National. He said the drones could carry a three-pound payload on a delivery of about two miles. Abdulrahman Alserkal, the Emirati engineer who designed the project, says retina and fingerprint scanners would make sure the payload got to the correct recipient.

It's all part of a $1 million contest launched this week, soliciting inventors to find ways to use drones to benefit citizens. And frankly, it might be a little more likely than Amazon's plan. A drone can carry a passport or drivers license across a neighborhood much more easily than that bowling ball you bought from Amazon.

And as Wired's Marcus Wohlsen points out, Dubai's government monarchy runs a lot like a business. UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid doesn't have to grapple with the FAA like Amazon does. If he wants document delivery drones, he's probably likely to get them. Dubai loves drones—in fact, they're already planning to use them to fight fires.

Look, most of the same hurdles facing Amazon will probably hinder Dubai's plan: imprecise navigation, limited payload and range, and the plain old fact that drones buzzing around neighborhoods with no operator in sight are pretty terrifying. Personally, I think it'd be super freaky to get a knock on your door and find a retina-scanning drone there delivering your new car registration papers or whatever. Although that still sounds a hell of a lot better than waiting in line at the DMV. [The National via Wired]

http://gizmodo.com/could-dubais-crazy-plan-to-deliver-official-documents-1523453538

Why the idea of Delivery Drones may never take flight

Doug Bennett, a member of the DC Drone User Group in Washington, DC, flies FPV at a park. Image: author

What happens when you take your drone to public land in Pleasanton, California and start flying it around in first-person view, using the drone’s onboard camera to see where you’re going? If you’re Sean Wendland, you get a stern talking to from an old man who says you can’t use your newfangled technology here.

The old guard vs. the new. Welcome to the nerdiest beef in the drone world.

For decades, the model aircraft hobby has been dominated by former soldiers, pilots, and other airplane enthusiasts. They've been flying gas-powered model aircraft and balsa-wood clunkers at flying clubs around the country for decades with very little interruption from the government or anyone else, for that matter.

But when you pop a camera on a hexacopter and stream that camera's video back to your iPad to fly it like you’re playing StarFox, things change. All of a sudden, instead of a model airplane you can fly in circles for a half-hour, you’ve got a drone that can be used for deliveries, to do land surveys, to perform search-and-rescue missions, and take aerial photography. And you’ve got a huge influx of Silicon Valley-types who care very little about flying around a little airplane and care very much about getting a slice of the estimated $13.6 billion the drone industry is expected to be worth once the FAA finally sets commercial regulations. 

“They are tech guys, that’s one thing I’ve noticed,” Dave Mathewson, executive director of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, said about first-person view droners. “I don’t think they’re as interested in the flying aspect, they’re interested in the platform and the ability to do something with it like starting a company.”

First-person view (FPV) is how Predator drones are usually operated overseas and it’s how commercial drones will have to be operated if they’re going to do anything out of line-of-sight from its pilot—unless we’re going to let them fly completely autonomously. It’s also a technology that is hated by most of the old guard.  

Wendland is not a member of the AMA, as that old man at Lassen was, but it’s not for lack of trying. He said he was turned away by three flying clubs who said his kind, and his technology, wasn’t welcome there. 

“It’s a cultural and a generational issue,” Wendland said. “I’ve been turned away from three clubs and now I have a bad taste in my mouth. I won’t go near anything associated with the AMA, and a lot of people in the FPV community feel the same way.”

That’s a problem. If Jeff Bezos (or anyone else) wants to be able to fly you shampoo within an hour of you ordering it, FPV is going to be necessary. For better or worse, it’s the near-term future of commercial drones. Bezos can dream all he wants about drone delivery, but fully automated flight is a long way away from dodging every powerline, bird, and streetlight between Amazon’s warehouses and your front door. An experienced FPV flyer can do that, no sweat.

At the end of this video, you can head Wendland's interaction with an AMA member.

“Going forward, the biggest commodity will be pilots,” Wendland said. “A company isn’t going to buy five [aircraft] just to crash four of them. They’ll buy one and hire a pilot that knows what they’re doing.”

The makeup of AMA’s 140,000 members closely matches that of its Model Aviation magazine, which is delivered to 96 percent of the organization’s members. According to the AMA, the median age of a member is 46 and a quarter are retired. There’s no available demographic information for FPV flyers, but many in the community are more likely to be software developers, startup-minded people, or video game enthusiasts, rather than people who are deeply enamored with aviation as a whole. 

And that’s a problem for the AMA, which has operated without FAA regulation since 1936 and now face federal interference. The AMA set its first guidelines for FPV flight in 2008 and they are extremely restrictive. To be within the guidelines, you have to have a spotter who constantly has an eye on your drone, fly below 400 feet, and always remain within visual line of sight. That last one is the big hangup: The main benefit of flying FPV is the fact that you can fly your drone much further distances—say, the distance necessary to make a delivery.

THE FUTURE OF LEGAL FIRST-PERSON VIEW FLIGHT AND OF THE DRONE INDUSTRY COULD BE IN THE HANDS OF AN ORGANIZATION THAT HAS TRADITIONALLY DISLIKED THE HOBBY. 

At first, those at flying clubs were merely interested in FPV flight—until the flashy nature of it began getting media attention and flyers like Raphael Pirker, one of the more polarizing figures in the community, began uploading videos to YouTube. In 2011, he posted a drone footage taken while flying FPV in New York City that caught the attention of the FAA and the AMA.

"At first, the clubs were very welcoming, but after we did the New York flights, whenever we came they just said no, you can’t fly here today," Pirker said of clubs in Europe. "I think the same is happening across the United States right now. The momentum at the clubs has swung largely against it, especially in traditional circles."

Now, a bunch of young guys like Pirker and Wendland are ignoring the AMA’s volunteer safety guidelines, flying in populated areas, catching FAA scrutiny, making flashy YouTube videos, and generating tons of media attention (both positive and negative) on the hobby. That’s why you end up with AMA-affiliated clubs that won’t let FPV flyers onto their fields. It’s also why the AMA has, in the past, ripped media outlets for suggesting that flying FPV is the future of model aircraft and have said that those who flaunt the AMA safety guidelines are “unbelievably selfish” and are “clowns” that are “unconcerned for public safety.”  

As a matter of policy, the FAA has allowed FPV flight as long as its operator isn't doing it for commercial purposes. Whether they can truly limit that is up for debate; a pending case against Pirker will help settle that debate.

But, whether they like each other or not, drone operators and the AMA are going to have to make nice. 

Though some, like Wendland, have completely disavowed and distanced themselves from the AMA, people who want to fly commercially are probably going to need them. The AMA has the legacy, membership, and, most importantly, the political clout to remain relevant. They’re one of the only organizations that the FAA goes to for guidance on the subject. 

“They’re not embracing us. They’ve failed,” Wendland said. “The AMA hasn't embraced us and because of that, the FAA knows nothing about this hobby because they’ve never talked to us directly.”

Last month, the AMA and the FAA signed a memorandum of understanding, one that “establishes a cooperative working relationship between the FAA and the AMA.”

“Under the agreement, AMA will serve as a focal point for the aero-modeling community, the hobby industry and the FAA to communicate relevant and timely safety information,” an FAA representative wrote on the agency’s blog. “The group will establish and maintain a comprehensive safety program for its members, including guidelines for emerging technologies such as model UAS. The group also agreed to foster a ‘positive and cooperative environment’ with modelers toward the FAA and any applicable regulations.”

That means the future of legal FPV flight and of the drone industry could be in the hands of an organization that has traditionally disliked the hobby. 

“Right now, the AMA and AUVSI [a consortium of drone manufacturers] are the only two organizations that have the FAA’s ear,” said Scott Fuller, who has been flying FPV since 2005. 

But the AMA stance on FPV is slowly changing. With the ongoing drone boom, the AMA’s membership should be flourishing, but it’s not. It has remained relatively stagnant, and its resistance to FPV flight is a huge reason for that. 

Also, there’s too much money in FPV flight for the FAA to move forward by banning it entirely. The agency may turn to the AMA for initial guidelines, but when Bezos and a thousand other corporations and lobbying arms come calling, it will have to find some way of allowing at least limited use of FPV in commercial flights. 

It seems that, finally, the AMA is starting to recognize it needs FPV as much as FPV needs it. In October, AMA president Bob Brown attended a DC Drone Users Group meeting in Northern Virginia. Much of the meeting was focused on how the organization is trying to reach out to its clubs to allow drone flyers to practice in their fields, and Brown premiered a video sent out to all of its members noting that the AMA has to eventually embrace FPV flight.

“Just as with any other form of modeling, the risks are not limited to the technology, it is how it is being used,” Brown said. “We believe it will eventually be seen no differently than anything that came before it.”

Mathewson, the former AMA president, told me that eventually, his members are “going to see that FPV is no different from anything that came before it.”

Whether FPV pilots are willing to play along is another story. Fuller says the AMA has looked at the FPV community “as a cash cow” since the multi rotor explosion started, and Wendland says he won’t work with the FAA or the AMA unless it agrees to allow experienced pilots to fly beyond line of sight, a move neither seems to be caving on.

"This is like the computer club at Apple in 1977. There’s major philosophies at odds with each other in the FPV movement, and someone like Bill Gates is going to split off and make millions," Wendland said. "We have innovators in this community that are doing this stuff without the AMA."

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-little-known-fued-thats-shaping-the-future-of-delivery-drones

The FAA Shuts Down Worlds First Beer-Delivery Drone

Ice fishermen on Lake Waconia in Minnesota were pleasantly surprised when a Wisconsin brewery, Lakemaid, flew a twelve-pack of their frothy suds over the icy wastes to their warm fishing cabins using a hefty, remote-controlled quadcopter. It was a match made in zero-degree weather: the brewery took orders and flew their drones out to the fishermen who, in turn, didn’t have to trudge to the shore for liquid refreshment. The FAA, however, didn’t find the arrangement so appealing.

According to FAA rules, you cannot fly a drone for commercial purposes or above 400 feet in the United States. Therefore a robot flying a sixer over to some thirsty pescatarians is right out. One phone call from the FAA shut down the entire operation and, in turn, set off an Internet firestorm. But the company, whose logo is a fulsome lake maiden with a slippery tail, will not be grounded for long.

“The model of UAV used for the video was a DJI F550,” said Lakemaid president Jack Supple. “There was a little wind that day so it was laboring to lift the twelve pack. We had to lighten its load by some bottles to safely fly it. We were about to order a larger drone when the FAA called. So we’re waiting to see where this goes. Regulations come out in 2015 and we’ll be ready.”

The company even began a petition on Whitehouse.gov to get their beer drones (BUAVs) back in the air and has definitely caused a social media ruckus on Twitter and Facebook. Their website still features a 2011 retail list but has been revamped to focus primarily on their flying robokegerator.

Savvy students of marketing will note that this move is an excellent PR stunt for the small Stevens Point, Wisconsin brewery, although there is some disappointment that the FAA spoiled the fun. Over Super Bowl Weekend the “fishermen [were] going to sit there from Friday 5 p.m. all the way through Sunday,” said Supple to the AP.

Want to try Lakemaid? Supple says you’ll have to wait (or order a sixer online). The drones probably won’t make it to the coasts just yet. “The only way to get it in New York and San Francisco would be to know a real nice relative traveling from the Upper Midwest, or to call a shipping retailer in one of those states.”

I asked Supple what was next for Lakemaid. Rockets perhaps? He balked at the question.

“We never even considered using rockets. Lakemaid Beer Frosty Winter Lager is far too good to risk on a violent rocket ride and crash landing on a frozen lake surface. The ability of the UAV to set the twelve pack gently and tenderly down in the snow next to the fish house make us fans of this form of delivery,” he said.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/04/the-faa-shuts-down-beer-delivery-drone/