This past Thursday, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) demonstrated a new robot known as "MK30," also known as "Sparrow," which is essentially a delivery drone robot that has been created for the purpose of carrying millions of products of all kinds.
It was first revealed at the Delivering the Future conference located near Boston, Massachusetts. At this conference, brand new robotics, transportation, and delivery technologies were unleashed.
Back in 2013, Amazon introduced the very first delivery drone brought about with Prime Air, which ensures that deliveries will be conducted within one hour of ordering the Amazon items. The way that the robot conducts itself is through suction cups, which are connected to the surface of the robot in order to hold onto various products.
According to Jason Messinger, principal technical product manager of robotics at Amazon Robotics, Sparrow is diverse in terms of the types and sizes of items that it is able to deal with.
In terms of improvements that Amazon would like to add to its Prime Air, there are now new safety systems that have been constructed in order to protect people from safety hazards such as other drones, other people, or pets.
"While it's impossible to eliminate all risks from flying, we take a proven aerospace approach to design safety into our system," Amazon wrote in a statement. "As always, our newest drone will go through rigorous evaluation by national aerospace authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration to prove its safety and reliability."
Presently, the Amazon drones have the ability to fly 400 feet above ground, up to 50 mph, with packages that are up to 5 pounds. In addition to safety hazards, Amazon also hopes to pinpoint the issue of making excessive noise from the drones.
This past July, Amazon revealed that it would begin utilizing drones in order to deliver items to individuals located in College Station, Texas. In addition, this past June, Amazon made known its intentions of making drone deliveries in Lockeford, California.