in warehouses.
Last holiday season, drones were one of the most popular gifts. Now businesses are discovering new uses for the remotely piloted flying machines.
Online retail giant Amazon already has said it wants to use robotic drones to support its proposed same-day package delivery. Now Wal-Mart — the world’s largest real-world retailer — says it plans to use drones for inventorying its warehouse by the end of this year.
Last Thursday, Wal-Mart demonstrated how the inventory-taking drones would work at its gigantic Bentonville, Arkansas, distribution center. As reporters watched, the automated drones zoomed in and out of towering shelves containing a wide variety of palletized products, capturing data via IRF and bar code readers about what they contained.
Industrial Applications
The US military has been using pilot-less drones for missions in the Middle East for nearly a decade. Now industries are coming up with more peaceful uses for drones.
For example, fitted with a bar code or IRF reader, drones can fly up and down the aisles of massive warehouses, capturing data and providing real-time information on the location and value of products.
Delivery Services
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made headlines when he announced in 2014 that his company was testing the use of robotic drones for home delivery. Now Wal-Mart has announced that it also wants to use drones for home delivery, curbside pickup, inventory, and other purposes.
The company applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission testing drones last year. Now, Wal-Mart hopes to have its flying inventory robots in use by the end of this year.
Drones are a substantially more affordable option than hiring human delivery drivers, buying fleets of panel vans and other delivery vehicles, and organizing a sophisticated street-level delivery logistics operation.
Drones can be operated either remotely or programmed to use GPS, radar and other high-tech tools to fly to their intended locations automatically.
FAA Approval
So far, the biggest delay to the futuristic widespread use of drones for home delivery is the federal government. The Federal Aviation Administration is still developing rules to regulate the way drones could be used in public areas.
The FAA’s biggest concern is for public safety. First, there’s the worry about propeller-driven drones zipping over the heads of pedestrians and civilians. Then there’s the worry about possible interference with commercial airline traffic, especially near busy airports.
Currently, Wal-Mart has 80 super-sized supercenters, in additions to its distribution center, that will help the retail giant expand its share of the online retail industry. If it can find ways to use drones to speed up its warehouse operations, including inventory, it will help propel the company past Amazon and other competitors for the online consumer market.