Do You Know Drones?

The dream of rapid residential drone delivery is quickly becoming a reality.  Walmart has invested in drone delivery company DroneUp following a pilot last year with automated deliveries of COVID-19 nasal swab test kits proving that they can deliver select items to customers in minutes versus hours.  According to Tom Ward, Walmart SVP of Last Mile, “this investment is a natural next step, proving that the opportunity to scale drone delivery is within reach.”

These are the Top 5 Drone MIssion Gotchas according to drone professionals on Clubhouse.  Join us in the Commercial Drone Pilot Club.

In this episode, I will share with you where to invest $100 in a scrappy autonomous drone delivery start-up called Skycart.  Invest as little as $100 here on WeFunder:  www.wefunder.com/skycart

Just over 400 years ago the original Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, United Kingdom bound for Plymouth, MA on a voyage of discovery.  This month, a collaboration of maritime innovators aims to launch a second Mayflower to repeat the journey - this time with no humans aboard.

In Christiansburg, Virginia, Girl Scout cookies are falling from the heavens.  Well, not exactly. They are being delivered not by young girls in uniform but by Google-developed Wing drones, a futuristic twist on how to get your fill of Thin Mints.  

Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., reached out to the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline about making cookie drops to help boost cookie sales, which are still being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

What's your favorite Girl Scout Cookie?  I love Samoas!

The turf war of drone operator versus surveyor has been thrust into the light in the form of new legal battles.  The North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors are seeking to prosecute any drone pilot that engages in “mapping, surveying and photogrammetry, stating accuracy, providing location and dimension data and producing orthomosaic maps, quantities, and topographic information.”  As a result, many drone pilots in the state have abandoned drone mapping altogether.

Companies of all kinds are turning to drones to cut costs, increase efficiency, decrease workload or simply do what humans cannot.  The $2.3B recreational drone market and the $30B wearables market could come together to produce something very unique in health and wellness: fitness drones.

Join me on YouTube LIVE on Monday morning to watch the coverage of the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter First Flight!

Drones continue to push the limits of what’s possible.  Silicon Valley-based Skyfront flew from sunrise to sunset (that’s over 13 hours!) covering over 205 miles along the California Coastal Range.  The flight was performed by the Skyfront Perimeter 8, a gasoline-electric hybrid multirotor drone designed to exceed the capabilities of most helicopters.

Many students are still connecting to school from home and those in rural communities struggle without reliable internet; 50% have poor connections that don’t support video or many types of educational software.  Students in rural Wisconsin will soon be getting access to the internet by drone.