Did you ever think you could receive your packages by air? These days, the phenomenal-and viral-video of remote-controlled drones delivering what has been ordered to your doorstep is blowing up on the web. The giant Amazon, in fact, is designing “flying deliverymen” who will ship goods directly to your home in just under 30 minutes.
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Obviously the “surreal” project is in the works and awaiting permissions but the idea is not bad at all, in fact… it’s brilliant!
Online shopping is becoming more and more popular;e-commerce has become an indispensable element for those with an eagerness to shop, especially if it’s quick and easy. By logging on to the site, you can buy everything from clothing to food at the click of a button. It is curious to see how the need to have everything under control and at hand has taken over traditional shopping. However, the Hamletic doubt that assails once the fateful BUY button is pressed is: will it arrive or not?
Amazon and Google: who first?
The shipping process is increasingly complex, remaining, at times, an unknown. When delivery takes several weeks, the waiting time is unnerving for those anxious to receive their package, compulsively performing online tracking to know when it will arrive at its destination. To make up for this rampant inefficiency and shorten the timeline, Amazon has set up a veritable arsenal of technology, made up of flying contraptions.
The idea, I said, is grandiose in its own right but not totally new.
Those who are used to steadily following news from the big boss Google know that the input started here about a year ago. Over the past few years, Big G has unveiled a number of futuristic – and at the same time bizarre – projects on paper that “Amazonian” flying drones seem unreachable by comparison.
“Astro” Teller, mastermind of the Google X team, publicly presented the so-called Google Self-Driving Car, a car capable of driving without human intervention and with two main goals:
- Make home deliveries independently;
- Reduce the number of accidents on American roads.
Needless to say, presenting a software-driven car on the market is a real revolution, both in the field of transportation and in the technology itself.
Big G’s initial intentions was to use the machines to be able to make deliveries of all kinds, not talking about a link to a particular e-commerce. The subtle difference might be this: while Amazon imprints its idea on a web portal, Google makes a general point, without a specific reference to the web or anything else. Though the intentions of the two giants are slightly different, however, the concept is identical.
Moreover, just recently, as Amazon spreads the prototype-drone, Google lets it be known that for years it has been working on designing Google Robots capable of:
- perform manual labor, eliminating human presence in some areas of industrial production;
- make deliveries by inaugurating the Google Shopping service.
Here is the Mountain View team claiming, once and for all, the authorship of the idea. If the hypothesis of creating an autonomous car had passed quietly … this time the bomb has exploded, hitting those who stepped on his toes, another superpower, Amazon precisely.
If, however, the announcement of flying drones still remains a utopia to be realized, Andy Rubin ‘s message to the Web audience has managed to plant solid roots not only because of the value of the Google name, but also because of the evidence about their serious intentions: the purchase of seven startups, among the most qualified, specializing in robotics and artificial intelligence.
It certainly brings a smile to the face to see that two giants of the tech world are intent on challenging each other. There are a number of issues to be considered, however, relating for example to the safety of citizens, how to handle deliveries in particularly crowded areas, methods to avoid the risk of theft, etc. Amazon’s drones are nice and useful but only if their use is confined to industrial hubs or within the buildings themselves, otherwise logistically forget about immediate delivery. As for Google, the idea is certainly more realistic because it is backed up by years of processing and planning, putting all kinds of inconveniences into account.
If I had to choose between the two, I would have no doubt.
Will robots take over the world?
If we were to gloss over the undisputed extraordinariness of the ingenuities, we might even realize that behind them lie motivations and intentions that are … frightening. The advent of drones in everyday life, or at least their hypothetical introduction, makes us think that we have reached a point of no return where technology is gradually taking hold. The robotic mindset is entering real life by breaking its virtual boundaries and performing our own actions. Should we be frightened? Science fiction literature has educated us to do so, but the idea that robot workers could take our place is still part of the imagination. Or at least one would hope so. In reality, the robotization of work and our lives is taking more and more shape.Homo Roboticus, as such, is designed to be perfect and, currently, to fill the gaps left by humans. Machines that drive themselves, drones that make deliveries, and robots that work. Is it correct to rely totally on machines? What should we expect?