Amazon patents 'drone skyscraper' to enable quicker deliveries in inner-city areas
Online retail giant Amazon has invented a new way of sending out its deliveries, filing a patent for ‘drone skyscrapers’.
According to the designs the tower would have several launching spots where remotely operated drones would be loaded with a package and then take off.
Amazon, which will be launching in Australia this year, is planning to use drones to deliver smaller packages and has already begun testing drone delivery, as reported by the Guardian.
The patents were filed in December 2015 but made public by the US Patent and Trade Office last week.
The drawing of Amazon’s patented drone skyscraper. Image: US Patent and Trademark Office
According to the designs, the cylindrical tower would have robotic arms that would be able to grab drones from the sky.
It would be operated by a team of human staff and robots that may repair the drones.
Then elevator systems would move drones around the building and a continuous flow of air would be blasted upwards to reduce damage to drones that fall.
The drone centre would also have a loading dock for trucks and may include a self-service location for customers to pick up items in person, according to the Guardian.
An Amazon drone used in a promotional video for the company’s ”Prime Air” delivery service. Photo: YouTube
Amazon believes that it would be better to move its warehouses, which it calls ‘fulfilment centres’ to an inner city location, rather than relying on its current model of large single-story warehouses that store packages before they are shipped to customers.
“There is a growing need and desire to locate fulfilment centres within cities, such as in downtown districts and densely populated parts of the cities,” the patent application says.
Amazon has also filed patents to address the loud unpleasant noise of the drones and make it omit a less offensive ‘white noise’ sound.
Another patent would involve adding another motor to its propellers so that the drone could continue to fly if one failed.
There is currently no indication about where or when the skyscrapers would be been built.
Amazon has been contacted for comment.
