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#zipline#drones#robotics

Zipline - How Rwanda Built A Drone Delivery Service

Real Engineering

5.1M subscribers • 2 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 9 people: 9 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2019 to 2023.
  • Presented by Brian McManus, creator of Real Engineering

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

1.5M views7 years ago9 recommendations

HardwareEmbedded systems

Brian McManus explains the engineering behind Zipline's fixed-wing drone delivery network for medical supplies in Rwanda.

Be one of the first 73 people to sign up with this link and get 20% off your subscription with Brilliant.org! brilliant.org/realengineering/ Wendover Production's Video: youtube.com/watch?v=bnoUBfLxZz0 Real Life Lore's Video: youtu.be/2AvtbRndNxk Disclaimer: A portion of travel expenses were paid for by Zipline. This was a courtesy and we retained full creative control. Ryan is also a long term Patreon supporter. New vlog channel: youtube.com/channel/UCMet4qY3027v8KjpaDtDx-g Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=2825050&ty=h Facebook: facebook.com/realengineering1 Instagram: instagram.com/brianjamesmcmanus Twitter: twitter.com/thebrianmcmanus Discord: discord.gg/s8BhkmN Get your Real Engineering shirts at: standard.tv/collections/real-engineering Credits: Writer, Narrator & Cameraman: Brian McManus Editor: Stephanie Sammann (stephanie-sammann.com/) Animator: Mike Ridolfi (moboxgraphics.com/) Sound: Graham Haerther (haerther.net/) Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster twitter.com/forgottentowel Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator Songs: Milo's Journey - Sum Wave Soft Glare - Mar Vei Waltzer - Dye O Sydney Sleeps Alone Tonight [Silk Music] Discoverers 1 - Gunnar Johnsén Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Karl Andersson, Mark Govea, Hank Green, William Leu, Jason A., Chris Plays Games, Tristan Edwards, Ken Coltan, Andrew McCorkell, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Christopher Lam, Deven Warren Rathbun.

Why it's here

9 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as an excellent overview of the engineering and logistics of Zipline's autonomous drone delivery system.

zx10rseon Hacker News • Recommends

On “FAA Authorizes Zipline to Deliver Commercial Packages Using Drones”

One of my favorite companies since I heard about them - link to this video I personally believe this is the way forward, like in a star wars movie full of a plethora of "dumb" robots who have a specific work task, and are almost self sufficient. Like you have a robot that fix delivery drones, a robot that assembles them, and etc. Drones will be also much better at avoiding obstacles, and they will be much more efficient than cars. I am not really sure why there isn't more competition in this market. I believe they can build an autonomous delivery hub, and factory. I wish them all the best.
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1023byteson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second Crash”

Delivery drones are definitely unnecessary in densely populated areas. It's cool and futuristic, but it's not economical at all, it's very unsafe and also loud. However it's a wonderful thing for rural places with poor infrastructure. For example Zipline in Rwanda, one of the most interesting solutions an engineering perspective too: link to this video
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Fabricio20on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Google Wing Launching US Drone Deliveries with FedEx, Walgreens”

The catapult launches the drones into the air, which then parachute the package to the location. Real Engineering 1 and Wendover Productions 2 have really nice videos about their system currently deployed in Rwanda. 1: link to this video 2: link
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ViralBShahon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Zipline: Drone delivery of medical supplies”

I learnt about Zipline in a talk at JuliaCon by Tucker McClure who spoke about how they use Julia for designing and tuning their aircraft. Had the great fortune of spending an evening at the conference to learn more about the company itself, how it got started and their use of Julia. Recommend the 2019 JuliaCon video on how Zipline uses Julia for vehicle simulation: link And this video by Real Engineering that does a great job of explaining how the whole thing works: link to this video
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RheingoldRiveron Hacker News • Recommends

On “The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream”

flyzipline is so cool! I saw an AMA they did on reddit a while ago and their tech for the thing landing where it hooks onto the the wire is really neat! link to this video
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matkonieczon Hacker News • Recommends

On “The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream”

> Even if they're literally worse at everything than the alternatives, cost more, are less reliable, etc. Drones may be better for very quick delivery or where road network is very poor. See link with amazing link to this video (delivery of medical supplies in Rwanda) and mentions ship-to-ship transport.
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jazzyjacksonon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Police helicopter's 100mph chase with 'super sophisticated' drone near Tucson”

I was also going to mention zipline in Rwanda, last video I saw was two years ago but it looks like they’re doing well enough to be hiring interns in San Fran. Really cool tech, the way they have a sort of assembly line for getting ready-to-fly parts on the package in the space of minutes - these are life and death deliveries out here! link to this video link
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SPBSon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Drones have transformed blood delivery in Rwanda”

For those blocked by a paywall, Real Engineering did a video on it [video ]. The most interesting aspects to me were: - The drone is not a quadcopter, they are too inefficient. Mini plane design. - GPS device is directly attached to the swappable battery unit to ensure it is always connected to a satellite, eliminating satellite connection delays when the drone powers up. - It is launched into a sky by a powered rail. It doesn't need to land to deliver the goods, the items get parachuted down. No infrastructure needed on the receiving end, the item just drops from the sky. - For landing the drone flies past an aircraft arresting wire while hooking onto it which decelerates it and causes i…
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gnivon Hacker News • Recommends

On “FAA Authorizes Zipline to Deliver Commercial Packages Using Drones”

They’ve been doing those deliveries in Rwanda for 6 years! Very impressive. This video has a bit more info and is less rushed: link to this video
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cinntaileon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Zipline: Drone delivery of medical supplies”

…y to their destinations, leaving ground vehicles behind." That sounds like an unfair comparison, a more accurate comparison would have been to gas powered drones. Is it still the case for gas powered drones that they're more unreliable than electrical drones? It's probably because of the weight of a gas powered engine in such a small drone no? 0 link to this video…
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victorthehumanon Hacker News • Mentions

On “FAA issuing new rules to allow drones to fly over people and at night”

If we're talking about fixed wing drones in rural environments then it does makes sense. A good example of that is this drone delivery service in Rwanda link to this video
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rudianon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream”

There's an American company1 in Ghana sending medical supplies around the country with small launchable planes.2 1: link 2: link to this video
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rodent_rodeoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The U.S. Government's Most Powerful Spying Tool Is Fighting for Its Life”

If you watch the video, at the end they show a road runner. I was bracing myself for the poor little guy to get blasted to atoms. Spoiler: road runner survived. I work in the opposite field of weapons but from the moment I saw zipline I thought their quick launching and distance was interesting. Maybe this is already how drones are launched in places like Ukraine, I don't know. I do understand that the road runner is probably much faster and able to intercept jets. link to this video I'm not really looking forward to drone warfare, tbh.
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