Drones for Food Delivery, Farming Featured at Aerospace Technology Expo

The range of activities that can be handled by drones was on full display this week at a large aerial technology exhibition in Florida.

One drone company featured how it uses drones to deliver food, often within minutes of an order being placed, while another highlighted drones for agriculture with the ability to carry relatively heavy loads.

The drones were featured at the annual Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo, a weeklong event with continuous air shows, flight demonstrations and hundreds of exhibits highlighting emerging aerial technology.

The food delivery drones were featured by Wing, which is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

Wing has been delivering goods from Walmart stores in Texas and most recently started drone deliveries from DoorDash to Wendy’s customers in Virginia.

“A remote pilot monitors the drones,” Alex Zvada, creative and content director at Wing, told me at the Wing exhibit at Sun ‘N Fun. 

The ordering and drone delivery systems are integrated and automated with the drones sitting on landing and charging pads until called into action. As a result, the drone deliveries can be rapidly executed starting with an order being placed.

“The fastest delivery so far was two minutes and 47 seconds in Virginia,” said Zvada.

Related:Flying Vehicle Showcased at Sun ‘N Fun Expo, Florida

The drones fly at 400 feet and are equipped with anti-collision technology, a common technology in electric aerial vehicles.  

The four-foot-long Wing drones fly at 65 mph with a delivery distance of 6 miles and can carry nearly 3 pounds. 

On the other end of the spectrum and located just outside the Innovation Center where Wing was featured, was Precision Agricultural Services.

The company featured two large-sized drones, one that could carry 50 pounds and a larger one that can carry 100 pounds.

The drones can be used for seeding or fertilizing farmland, said Chase Haley, general manager of Precision Agriculture Services, as he walked me through the process.

The company uses small drones to first survey the land. Once visually mapped, the large drones can then automatically either seed or fertilize. The drones can carry dry or liquid materials.

The Wing and Precision drone approaches fall under different regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

The Wing drones can be flown without a visual observer, although a remote pilot monitors all the drones in operation while the Precision drones require a visual observer. 

However, both drones have sophisticated cameras and anti-collision avoidance systems.

In addition to drones and planes, eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) technology was featured at Sun ‘N Fun by Lift from Austin, Texas. 

Related:DoorDash Starts Drone Deliveries From Wendy’s

The Sun ‘N Fun event, now in its 50^th year, is held in Lakeland Florida, located between Tampa and Orlando with expected attendance of 200,000.

Lift has been offering general public flights in its Hexa flying vehicle for several weeks at the airport in Lakeland, with public flights selling out.

The Lift electric aerial vehicle (EAV) is in the category that does not require a pilot’s license to fly it.

To get around the massive and spread-out expo, numerous golf carts move people from location to location. Planes are parked throughout the area for attendees to check out.