VAD
VAD
Written by Guy Maalouf
The market for online delivery packages has been steadily on the rise worldwide over the last few years, reaching $29 trillion sales by March 2019. Today, most of our needs can now be met through an online click. Ranging from an order of a daily meal to one for urgent medicine packages, automation has become a standard in our everyday lives. Moreover, with the ongoing global pandemic, which has minimized physical interactions between people, the need for an automated machine-driven delivery method increases significantly to reduce the virus spread.
In the scope of solving this rising problem and revolutionizing modern delivery methods, we are proposing VAD: an autonomous drone delivery service. Our system consists of four interconnected components: custom drone hardware, a socially-aware intelligent system for optimizing delivery routes, supported by a virtual 3D simulation for testing, and finally, a mobile application for a streamlined user experience for placing delivery orders. The main objective of the project is to provide an autonomous, optimization based, custom design that enables regular packages to be distributed in a fast, reliable, convenient, and affordable way, which satisfies modern eco-friendly requirements.
The experience begins with the mobile application, where the customer will place their order using either VAD’s or the restaurant’s app. The order details are sent to the restaurant and VAD’s online database so as to dispatch a drone from one of our many bases spread across different locations. The drone will then fly to the restaurant to pick up the package, after which it will head to the customer and deliver it, and ultimately go back to a base where it can swap its battery autonomously or take care of the next delivery. Our innovation lies in supplying the delivery drones as a delivery service rather than a renting one.
For more details and to watch our demonstration video, please visit our website www.vaddelivery.wordpress.com. For any inquiry don’t hesitate to get in touch via mail at vaddelivery@outlook.com
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