China has developed drones for package delivery. Experts say that with this technology, the eCommerce business would get a new mode of delivery.
To bring the 'Drone Delivery' to reality, Amazon hired three engineers from Champ University to run a pilot project in namma Bangaluru.
The project began with a Phunksuk Wangdu pooja to receive blessings from the father of drone technology. The Drones were imported from China and cakes were ordered from Iyengar Bakery. The mood was euphoric. The team even bought a white board to proactively identify the challenges they would face during implementation. But very soon they realized they would need a couple of white boards more.
Some of the issues they faced were:
- Rain. Since Bangalore has been competing with Cherrapunji in recent times, an enhancement in the design was needed to keep the Drones and the Cakes dry.
- Fuel. Cloudy weather also resulted in the solar cells on the drones ineffective. Petrol was considered as an alternative. But since Obama's Nobel Peace award has expired and as the fuel prices were going to shoot up after Syria attack, the team needed to look at other alternatives.
- Pigeons. The team expected that the cakes flying in the sky can come under attack from city pigeons.
- Drone Parking. There was no landing area for the drones once it had reached the destination.
- Another major but not an unexpected issue- The drones dint work... They just dint fly. Chinese products, so no warranty.
And there were many more issues.
After many sleepless nights in the lab, trying to work out the solution, the team decided to take a day off. The team was on their way back home when they were struck with the Eureka moment!
They called for an urgent 8AM meeting with the Amazon executive. The agenda was simple. To address all the white board challenges with one transformational solution. If only Amazon was ready to change the delivery method name from "Drone Delivery" to "Drone Auto Delivery"!!!
The team ordered the literature classic over www.amazon.com which says "what is there in the name", to which the Amazon team agreed. they decided to change the name of the delivery method to "Drone Auto Delivery"
Once the name was changed there was no stopping our ChampU team. They collaborated with Dial-an-Auto web service interface. The delivery model was redesigned this way:
Customer placed an order over the internet. Based on address specified, the nearest Iyengar bakery is identified. At the same time the nearest Auto is also intimated. By the time the baker loads the Drone with the cake, autowala starts honking at the gate (did it rhyme??). The drone is loaded in the auto and zoom it dissapears between the crazy traffic of the city. Within 20 minutes the parcel reaches the destination and the last-meter-delivery was done by the Drone.
All the problems on the white boards were striked off by this novel idea. Pilot project was a huge success and the amazon team offered free kindle fire HD to the team as a token of appreciation.
Amazon soon plans to implement this delivery model across the world..... Thanks to the ChampU team!!!
To bring the 'Drone Delivery' to reality, Amazon hired three engineers from Champ University to run a pilot project in namma Bangaluru.
The project began with a Phunksuk Wangdu pooja to receive blessings from the father of drone technology. The Drones were imported from China and cakes were ordered from Iyengar Bakery. The mood was euphoric. The team even bought a white board to proactively identify the challenges they would face during implementation. But very soon they realized they would need a couple of white boards more.
Some of the issues they faced were:
- Rain. Since Bangalore has been competing with Cherrapunji in recent times, an enhancement in the design was needed to keep the Drones and the Cakes dry.
- Fuel. Cloudy weather also resulted in the solar cells on the drones ineffective. Petrol was considered as an alternative. But since Obama's Nobel Peace award has expired and as the fuel prices were going to shoot up after Syria attack, the team needed to look at other alternatives.
- Pigeons. The team expected that the cakes flying in the sky can come under attack from city pigeons.
- Drone Parking. There was no landing area for the drones once it had reached the destination.
- Another major but not an unexpected issue- The drones dint work... They just dint fly. Chinese products, so no warranty.
And there were many more issues.
After many sleepless nights in the lab, trying to work out the solution, the team decided to take a day off. The team was on their way back home when they were struck with the Eureka moment!
They called for an urgent 8AM meeting with the Amazon executive. The agenda was simple. To address all the white board challenges with one transformational solution. If only Amazon was ready to change the delivery method name from "Drone Delivery" to "Drone Auto Delivery"!!!
The team ordered the literature classic over www.amazon.com which says "what is there in the name", to which the Amazon team agreed. they decided to change the name of the delivery method to "Drone Auto Delivery"
Once the name was changed there was no stopping our ChampU team. They collaborated with Dial-an-Auto web service interface. The delivery model was redesigned this way:
Customer placed an order over the internet. Based on address specified, the nearest Iyengar bakery is identified. At the same time the nearest Auto is also intimated. By the time the baker loads the Drone with the cake, autowala starts honking at the gate (did it rhyme??). The drone is loaded in the auto and zoom it dissapears between the crazy traffic of the city. Within 20 minutes the parcel reaches the destination and the last-meter-delivery was done by the Drone.
All the problems on the white boards were striked off by this novel idea. Pilot project was a huge success and the amazon team offered free kindle fire HD to the team as a token of appreciation.
Amazon soon plans to implement this delivery model across the world..... Thanks to the ChampU team!!!
