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Amazon Patents In-flight Transformer Drones

Peel

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Per the Puget Sound Business Journal, Amazon.com has patented technology for drones with retractable in-flight wings.

The e-commerce giant made its first commercial drone delivery last month in a 13-minute flight to drop a of shoebox-sized package containing popcorn and a Fire TV gadget.


Amazon originally filed for the patent in October 2014 under the name “in-flight reconfigurable hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle.”

The patent filing shows several types of hybrid drones whose wings can collapse for vertical takeoff and extend during horizontal flight to generate upward lift like a conventional airplane.

Patents and patent applications don’t guarantee an idea will become reality. But the growing number of drone-related patents shows Amazon is investing heavily in a technology that could upend the shipping industry.

The White House estimates the commercial drone industry could generate more than $82 billion nationally in the next decade and support as many as 100,000 new jobs by 2025. But U.S. government regulations remain one of the biggest obstacles to Amazon’s drone aspirations.

After U.S. officials clamped down on commercial drone use with new regulations, Amazon announced in July that it was partnering with U.K. officials to test drone-flying scenarios there.

Basically it takes off and lands as a quad-copter, then transforms to a fixed wing aircraft in flight, with the four props taking on a horizontal axis on the leading edge of the wing. I'm guessing this improves the flight distance, as the fixed wing configuration should require less power, than the quad-copter configuration, due to the wing's aerodynamics providing lift. Here's a slideshow of the patent drawings.
 
You have to have a serious pair to get heavily invested in drone tech. All it will take is one major incident and there could be a complete Ban in most countries. I think the Ban would ease up after a few months but I think it would never ease up back to the levels its at now. Even if the "problem" was eliminated the Privacy groups would fight to try and keep the laws in place.
 
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