Watch a Drone Deliver Drinks on an Estonian Beach
Cleveron’s UAVs will deliver beverages to a drop-point for impressed customers to pick up during a two-week demonstration.
Cleveron, an Estonian technology and "last mile parcel delivery automation" company has designed a drink-by-drone station on Viljandi beach. Customers can experience drone delivery first-hand by sending a simple text message to Cleveron's drone service, after which the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivers the selected beverage in under five minutes at the "CleverNest" located on the beach.
According to Cleveron, this is the safest drone delivery in the world, due to two simple things. First off, the drone hovers two meters (6.6 feet) above the drone nest, thereby safely avoiding any contact with consumers. The drinks get dropped into a little compartment from which customers can retrieve them. Also, the aforementioned CleverNest is a cordoned off parcel hub. The isolated area prevents anyone from accidentally entering it in the first place. In other words, there's no chance unsuspecting kids could accidentally hurt themselves from entering, though even if they did, the UAV is out of reach.
The company claims that the five minute delivery time is the fastest response time for UAV delivery in the world, which makes sense as the points of storage and delivery are right across the lake from each other and only separated by 0.3 miles. According to NewAtlas, this demonstration will only be operational for two weeks. It's a smart marketing strategy for the company, as there will likely be thousands of new eyes on Cleveron's ingenuity during those warm summer days on the beach. What is not known, however, is whether or not this drone is autonomous or piloted by operators.
Have a look at this promotional video below. What do you think? Of course, a simple beverage dealer or vending machine could provide you with a drink in far fewer than five minutes. But Cleveron is a drone delivery company, making that argument invalid. The whole point of this demo is to bring awareness to the company and to convince citizens that drone delivery is convenient and cute.