by Ric | Sep 15, 2015 | Land |
Small Unicycle Delivery Drones, Big Impact Alone Or In Packs – The Transwheel Idea Unmanned Cargo Delivery Concept – Chronicle 14 Transwheel, the delivery drone that doesn’t fly (August 16, 2015) (Editor’s Note: Nifty concept video can be found in YouTube: Futuristic Delivery Drone Robot by Kobi Shikar/ All images belong to Kobi Shikar) What the Article Chronicles: When people talk about parcel delivery drones, what comes to mind is Amazon’s Prime Air service. However, there are other potential autonomous cargo drone alternatives to having hundreds of flying UAVs filling up our skies within Amazon’s aerial drone superhighway as part of the quest to deliver eCommerce purchases within 30 minutes or less. Designed by Israeli industrial design student Kobi Shikar, the Transwheel concept is best described as a self-balancing, unicycle parcel delivery robot drone which has a vague resemblance to Universal Pictures’ Minions. (Editor’s Note: At least that is the first thing I think about when I look at the pictures). Official UAV / Drone Name: Transwheel delivery drone Basic Unmanned Cargo Vehicle (UCV) / Drone Description: Autonomous robotic wheel with self-balancing system, electric arms, obstacle detection cameras, GPS navigation system and a robust communication system that allows it to operate either alone to deliver small parcels or as a group to deliver full-size cargo containers. Additional features would include facial recognition hardware to identify and confirm package recipients, as well as LED lights that would allow the drones to deliver packages at night. Payload/ Range / Speed: No information on payload capacity, range or speed is available as the Transwheel is still in the concept stage. However, the...
by Ric | Jun 16, 2015 | Land |
The Daimler Fully Automatic, Driverless Freight Truck Unmanned Cargo Delivery Concept – Chronicle 03 World’s First Unmanned Unmanned Freight Truck to Barrel Down America’s Highways: Meet the Fully-Automated ‘Inspiration Truck’ (May 06, 2015) (Editor’s Note: The Daimler Freightliner Inspiration Truck is the first licensed autonomous commercial truck to operate in American highways) What the Article Chronicles: The Freightliner Inspiration Truck has a Level 3 autonomous vehicle operating system that enables the driver to cede full control of all safety-critical functions under certain traffic or environmental conditions. Using cameras and radars, as well as lane stability, collision avoidance, speed control, smart braking and intelligent steering systems, this autonomous freight truck can stay within the proper highway lane and legal speed limits as well as maintain a safe braking distance from other vehicles, thus allowing it to safely slow down or stop as traffic conditions change. In certain situations (such as when the truck exits the highway, drives on local roads or attempts to dock at a warehouse) the driver is always in control. The Inspiration Truck also showcases Daimler’s platooning technology. When “Highway Pilot” is turned on, two or more properly equipped trucks can use vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology to automatically reduce the gap between them to about 25 feet (7.6 meters), locking them into platoon formation thus using up to 6 percent less diesel than when trucks are traveling by themselves. A very detailed review of all the highlights, innovations and amenities of the Daimler Freightliner Inspiration Truck can be found at the TopSpeed website by clicking here. Official UGV / Drone Name: Daimler Freightliner Inspiration Truck Mission: To improve fuel consumption, reduce...