Millions of people worldwide order packages delivered to their doorsteps online everyday, and this has been recognised by a new special company, focused on the fast, quiet and safe delivery of packages; these packages ranging from medical supplies to simple McDonald’s meals.
Zipline, whose headquarters are located in San Francisco, has been operating for over six years, serving in its home country and many others globally, such as the United States, Rwanda, Ghana and Japan. The company has developed technology over the years that uses special drones to deliver packages fast and reliably.
The process uses two teams: a packaging team and a launching team. The packaging team receives the order from a nearby hospital or citizen and places in a secure and soft wrap, before passing it over to the launching team. The launching team use small drones that are launched from a rail like seen on an aircraft carrier, then activate small motors that allow the drones to reach seventy miles per hour, making the delivery quick.
The drone team attach a small parachute to the package and store it neatly within the nosecone. After this, a battery is attached to the body of the drone, before the same happens with the package. Now they are ready to send it to its desired location.
These drones have been used in hospitals world wide, delivering vital life saving supplies on demand within minutes. This has saved hundreds of lives, with each launched adding to that amount. Many doctors have found this a revolutionary technology that makes their lives much easier and less stressful.
In the hospital near the original launching site, the drones have reduced deaths from child birth by eighty eight percent. A patient who has lived because of the drones have said, “Every time when I see the drones around, I just think that someone’s life is going to be saved.” Astonishingly, Zipline provide coverage for three thousand hospitals worldwide, and are aiming for ten thousand by the end of the year.
Not only does Zipline do hospital deliveries, they already have drones delivering packages to normal people, containing normal things. They do this both safely and quietly, thus creating a much better option than the congesting cars that can affect our planet. To make the drones quiet, the developers turned to nature for inspiration. By using a special kind of propeller, the drones can fly without the high pitched buzzing that would otherwise make such a delivery method unfeasible.
The way the that Zipline receives the supplies needed is by using a special landing port that someone can just place products inside, and they will be collected. This saves time and effort needed to carry on their streak of over five-hundred-thousand deliveries. The company also allows businesses to more reliably and cheaply distribute products, instead of using large and expensive vehicles such as vans and cars.
A concept for the far future of these drones could be human transport, to both hospitals and regular places people want to be. These drones truly are extraordinary, and are not far away from being fully implemented across the globe. In our lifetimes, we could see these machines as regular delivery technology, but not even notice their existence until them coming to land. Zipline will change the world.
By Max Yr8
Carre’s Grammar School, Sleaford