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stephen at melbpc.org.au stephen at melbpc.org.au
Wed Oct 16 01:07:21 AEDT 2013


Drones to deliver parcels in Australia starting in March

Zookal partners with Flirtey to fly textbooks to university students

By Adam Bender (Techworld Australia) 15 October, 2013


Zookal has today announced a partnership with Flirtey that will see the 
textbook rental startup company employing drones to deliver parcels in 
Australia starting this March. It will be the first use of fully automated 
commercial drones in the world, the companies said.

Flirtey itself is a joint venture between Zookal and software company 
Vimbra. The company’s co-founders are Zookal CEO Ahmed Haider and Vimbra 
CEO Matthew Sweeny.

Delivery by drone will be free and will send parcels directly to an outdoor 
location of the user’s choice, with the drone’s GPS coordinates provided to 
the user through a smartphone app.

Zookal will start with six drones operating in a 3km area of the Sydney 
CBD, she said. A test flight is planned for November at the University of 
Sydney. Zookal said delivery will take as little as two to three minutes 
from the time the package is sent.

The Flirtey app, which is required for delivery, will at first only be 
available to Android smartphone users, but the company plans to release 
apps for other smartphones after the maiden voyage, Sweeny told Techworld 
Australia.

The co-founders of Flirtey say drone delivery will save time and money for 
the business. Same-day delivery by Flirtey costs a business only $2.99 per 
parcel, compared to up to $29.95 for traditional same-day postal delivery.

“Parcel delivery is an important part of any ecommerce business and it is a 
core part of ours,” Haider said. “We recognised that as the business grew, 
the current options would be unsustainable from a cost and performance 
perspective.

“This joint venture with Flirtey gives us an opportunity to provide a 
significantly faster and more efficient delivery of goods while reducing 
our ecological footprint and costs. We expect the use of drones will cut 
our delivery costs from $8.60 to 80 [cents] per delivery, and because they 
are battery powered, the environmental impact is minimal.”

A more relaxed regulatory environment toward commercial drones in Australia 
means the country will be first to get the service. Flirtey and Zookal plan 
to bring drone delivery to the US in 2015.

“As one of the few countries in the world to allow commercial drone 
activities, Australia is uniquely placed to create a new drone industry and 
shape the development of regulations in this space,” said Haider.

Flirtey is in the process of seeking regulatory approval with Australia’s 
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). The company is also working with 
the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at the University of Sydney on a 
project to, among other things, publish a protocol for the operation of 
drones that could be the basis for a voluntary industry code of conduct.

Getting there

The Flirtey drones use GPS and custom-built collision avoidance technology 
to safely deliver a package to the intended recipient. The drone lifts, 
calculates a route and drops a parcel with no human interaction or remote 
controlling involved.

The recipient can track the drone on their smartphone and step outside when 
it arrives. The drone waits for a short period of time. If the user misses 
it, the order can be placed again, said Sweeny.

When the drone arrives, the recipient must press “Lower package” on the 
smartphone app. The delivery mechanism lowers the parcel based on the 
location of the smartphone. These processes ensure the parcel is delivered 
to the right person, said Sweeny.

The drone continues to hover when making the delivery, lowering the parcel 
to the customer without having to leave its hovering height. If the 
recipient applies force to the drone’s lowering cord, the parcel is 
designed to break free without damage to the drone.

The drones are electric-powered using rechargeable lithium polymer 
batteries. The current model can fly 3 km, allowing deliveries in most 
CBDs, and carry up to 2 kg. Flirtey expects to increase both limits in 
future versions of the technology.

For greater safety, the Flirtey drone is built so that it can still land 
after losing a batter or rotor.

However, the drones are not yet immune to weather, said Sweeny. “Flirteys 
currently operate in summer weather, which is one reason that Sydney is a 
great city to pilot the technology. Flirtey is working on weather proofing 
our UAVs for all conditions, rain, hail or shine.”

Zookal says the drone sidesteps potential privacy problems by not including 
a camera. “The Flirtey can find your exact location, but it can't actually 
see
you.”

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