Drone cargo service in Japan: orders descend from the sky to houses
In Japan, orders are parachuted to customers by inter-island drones. Cargo delivery drones, which are launched into the sky and take flight, travel 50 kilometers in half an hour and reach the islands. Drones made of styrofoam dense material deliver the orders they carry with a paper parachute point.
In Japan, the largest island country in East Asia, customers receive their orders via drone cargo after their online shopping.
The fact that 70 percent of Japan is made up of mountains and islands can cause problems in the delivery and access of urgent needs and orders in some regions.
Developing various methods to overcome the geographical barrier, the Japanese meet urgent needs in a few hours with a user-friendly method.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, which have become widespread in the world, are generally used in areas such as tracking, surveillance, military purposes, topography and geology. The Japanese also began to use them for the supply of daily necessities.
The Japanese, who parachute with a maximum deviation of 10 meters, launch a drone with a catapult.
Residents of the Goto Islands in Nagasaki state order their daily necessities, including medicine, online. The orders loaded in the parachute box are delivered to the islanders by drone.
Adhering to aviation laws, drones use advanced algorithms and software. Drones can be operated with minimum problems thanks to high safety standards.
Service provider “Sora-iina”, which stands for “The sky is good”, founded in 2021, is funded by Toyota Tsusho.
The firm’s drone headquarters are located on Fukue Island, the largest and southernmost of the archipelago.
PARACIDES OPEN AND DOWN
When the drone arrives at the delivery point where it entered the system before, it opens the covers on its body and drops the cargo to the ground from a height of hundreds of meters. With the opening of the parachutes on the cargo, the ordered product descends to the ground with a simple free fall.
Parachute cargo with a product delivery success rate of 97 percent may have a 10-meter deviation in landing. No serious problems except windy weather.
Dropping the parachute cargo, the drone hovers in the air and automatically detects its path back to the center.
Sensing that it is approaching the center, the drone slows down and is caught by the hook on its tail like a bird trapped in the air by being caught in the air.
AVAILABLE IN ALL COUNTRY ON REQUEST
Sora-iina Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Matsuyama Michelle Mika told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they started this service in order to deliver medicine and daily needs of the residents of the island.
Stating that they want to increase their cooperation with the active operators on the island, Mika said, “We need to learn how to make money by considering the commercial aspect of the business.” aforementioned.
Noting that they are ready to serve in densely populated areas of Japan upon request, Mika declined to comment on the amount of subsidies provided by the provincial governor and central government to the project.
Rural areas and remote islands where many services are poorly provided are popular places for drone delivery.
