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Blimps and drones: a combination made in logistics heaven?
Amazon isn't the only retailer that's looking into drone delivery. Walmart appears to be working on a similar concept but its solution might be a bit different compared to Amazon's. Walmart has filed for a US patent for a floating blimp warehouse which will make delivers via drones. The idea is to have a floating warehouse up in the sky from where Walmart can instantly ship products to customers using drones.
According to the patent filing, the blimp-style floating warehouse would fly at heights between 500 and 1,000 feet. It will have multiple launch bays for sending drone deliveries. The blimp itself will either fly autonomously or be remotely controlled by a human pilot. This solution could help Walmart lower the cost of fulfilling online orders, cutting down on "last mile" costs to a customer's house which is normally handled by a logistics company.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @04:59AM (4 children)
The shell of blimps is not compressed by its gases. They're not like balloons. Shooting it would be unlikely to accomplish much of anything.
Though there's one thing I don't really understand. People seem to come up with the most sociopathic ideas for any new technology. I think it's because the media has probably led so many people to believe that 'out groups' are rabid animals just ready to strike. Far left individuals decry rural whites ready to destroy any new technology. Far right individuals decry urban blacks ready to destroy any new technology. Once again, Horseshoe Theory. [wikipedia.org]
However, these technologies already exist. Somebody doing something as small as placing a large rock on a busy high speed freeway would likely cause a catastrophe. Oh god, these newfangled automobiles will never be possible!!!
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday August 21 2017, @10:09AM (2 children)
Pretty sure I remember reading somewhere (but unfortunately can't find a link - maybe it was in one of my Dad's many books about airships) that back in the golden age of airship transport, they would routinely fly into port riddled with bulletholes after flying over the US. Whether the attacks were from trigger-happy country yokels or trigger-happy urbanites I don't remember, but I am pretty damn sure that modern Americans of many stripes would enjoy taking pot shots at the proposed Castle Walmartbach [wikia.com], especially if it was casting a shadow over somebody's land / neighbourhood for months at a time.
Yes, there are plenty of low-tech and largely anonymous ways to cause havoc on roads and railways etc already, and it should be noted that some people already do those things for "fun". However it should also be recognised that firing on this thing would this have the added appeals of novelty, of scale, a good measure of Walmart-hate and of course the enduring dream of firing into the air to create a rain of expensive consumer electronics. Large airships can shrug off regular bullets by the thousand but they are by no means robust. With a little ingenuity and the right materials (secured from Walmart, ironically) I reckon a determined individual could probably build a home-made blimp-killer and not get caught. I'm imagining something cobbled together from a drone and a blender to cut long gashes in the gasbags, but I'm sure craftier people could come up with more effective ideas.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday August 21 2017, @04:56PM
Mini version of the old-fashioned chain shot. Load a shotgun shell with two 12-gauge balls of lead strung on 10 feet of piano wire.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 21 2017, @05:57PM
The local gun shop sells a 50-cal for just over a grand. $5 a shot in packs of 100, range over a couple miles.
Somehow foreign terrorists are too dumb to envision shooting planes down near US airports (crash on the city), but something blimp-sized with a Walmart logo? Doesn't matter how many bags are inside, the locals will ensure enough of them will quickly develop big leaks.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday August 21 2017, @03:20PM
Oh, I wasn't expecting the gas to leave – these aren't pressure vessels – I was expecting the control electronics and propulsion hardware to be riddled in fairly short order.
You have to see the road signs and mailboxes around here to really understand. It's also informative if you look at the history of car carriers on railroads; in the USA, they used to be an open design [pinimg.com] Now they're armored. [wikipedia.org] Why? Rednecks, that's why.