The world is changing in so many ways. While many thought that we’d be flying around in jet-packs by now, we still instead find ourselves stuck in traffic. What if you could have your favorite coffee brought right to your car? Sound farfetched? Read on…
Via Global Coffee Report:
Coffee, donuts and a hot chicken sandwich were the first items to ever be delivered by drone in the US. The historic flight, which was approved by US aviation officials, was carried out by 7-Eleven in the US state of Nevada on Friday, 22 July.
The flight was the result of a collaboration between 7-Eleven and the drone start-up company, Flirtey. While the 7-Eleven delivery is the first of its kind, it is believed it will not be the last, with online retail giant Amazon also experimenting with the new technology. Flirtey is also working with drones to deliver relief supplies as part of humanitarian missions around the world.
Source: Drone delivers first ever coffee in USA | Global Coffee Report
Dutch Engineers Invent Coffee Delivery Drone
It’s a familiar feeling: mid-morning, exploiting the first caffeine high of the day, at your Everest of efficiency. Yet before long comes a realization that the cup you filled before reaching your desk is empty. What to do? Abandon your station—risking all the in-transit distractions that come with refueling—or stay put, convincing yourself you can withstand the pre-lunch doldrums?
If some Amsterdam entrepreneurs have their way, this dilemma will soon die out thanks to the Coffee Copter, a drone built to bring cups of fresh, handcrafted coffee to the caffeine-needy right where they work.
When Starbucks announced this fall that it would soon be offering delivery to select customers in the U.S., Dutch media went abuzz—and turned local attention to this video of Dutch-invented Coffee Copter’s test flight through A-Lab, a former Shell laboratory repurposed as an office space in Amsterdam Noord.
The video begins with the tap of a finger. An office worker places an order via the Coffee Copter app, and the request is instantly transmitted to the café on the building’s ground floor. The barista makes the drink—rosetta everlovingly included—and then places the lidded paper cup on the waiting drone, docked at the bar. Rotors spin and off it goes, flying away, up two flights of stairs, down a hall and into an office room, where an H-marked landing pad receives the gentle touchdown. Human hands retrieve the goods.
While the drone in the video is a prototype, work on a far more developed model of the Coffee Copter is underway. Behind it are six small companies whose leaders admit that the project has been a fine excuse to connect with kindred spirits over the offerings of their colleagues at Coffee Virus—an in-building coffee pop-up that became the official A-Lab lunch canteen, serving espresso drinks and filter coffee made from beans by Dutch roaster Bocca.
Full Article here. (Sprudge)
I’m still waiting for desert deliveries via drone, maybe it won’t be that long. Welcome to the future. Now, bring me my espresso!