O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: drone

  • UPS completes first drone delivery test, envisions aerial drones working alongside truck-based delivery drivers

    Your UPS packages could be delivered by drone in the relatively near future.

    UPS drone delivery testing kicked off on Monday with a successful package delivery alongside a human driver. In 2018 the FAA chose UPS to sit on its drone advisory committee.

    As of Monday, UPS tested a Workhorse HorseFly UAV Delivery drive that launched from the top of a UPS package car. The drone delivered a package to a home by itself prior to returning to the vehicle while the driver made a separate delivery.

    Mark Wallace, the senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability for the company, offered the following comments:

    “This test is different than anything we’ve done with drones so far. It has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery. Imagine a triangular delivery route where the stops are miles apart by road. Sending a drone from a package car to make just one of those deliveries can reduce costly miles driven. This is a big step toward bolstering efficiency in our network and reducing our emissions at the same time.”

    There are currently no plans to replace drivers with drones or autonomous vehicles at this time, and the current thought seems to be that this will aid delivery drivers and save time. If UPS can make a reduction of one mile per driver per day over a year, it can potentially save up to US$50 million.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via The Mac Observer and UPS

  • First Apple Park drone footage of 2018 shows central courtyard, fitness center, basketball courts and more

    Apple Park is getting closer to completion.

    In the latest installment of drone-based footage by videographer Duncan Sinfield, the company has apparently made progress on the site’s large central courtyard, employee fitness center and basketball courts, the Steve Jobs Theater, and more.

    The first part of Sinfield’s new video focuses on the landscaping within Apple Park’s courtyard, which is still being finished up in the new year. Greenery now covers most of the space and surrounds the main water feature, which is complete. Landscaping has been a major part of the last few Apple Park drone videos, with most of the large equipment moved off of the campus since the majority of construction is now complete.

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  • December 2017 drone footage shows new trees, grassy areas at Apple Park

    Construction of the new Apple Park campus is entering its end stages, with 4K drone footage showing new trees and grass areas now in place. The site looks very much closer to the ‘building amid nature’ image seen in the early renders …

    Trees also surround the large pond, and the visitor center – but not high enough to block the view of the main spaceship building from its roof terrace atop the on-site Apple Store.

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  • November 2017 Apple Park 4K drone surfaces, focuses on Visitor Center

    Apple Park has opened and the new drone footage of the campus is in.

    The current view from above captured in 4K video by Maverick Solutions shows the new Apple Park Visitor Center since it opened to the public.

    The drone footage features the on-site Apple Store, complete with official Apple Merchandise that’s not available in regular Apple Store locations.

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  • Newly-released drone footage shows final touches to Apple Park construction, exterior of Steve Jobs Theater

    Apple Park is almost complete.

    With construction on Apple Park nearing completion, a new drone video shot and shared by pilot Duncan Sinfield offers up a close look at the now-finished Steve Jobs Theater and it depicts landscaping progress at the campus, both inside and outside of the ring-shaped main building.

    The theater features a 20-foot tall glass cylinder that overlooks the main campus building and is surrounded by greenery. It boasts the world’s largest freestanding carbon fiber roof and spans 120,000 square feet with an underground auditorium area that seats 1,000 people.

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