Solve for X: Andreas Raptopoulos on physical transport

Solve for X is a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork. http://www.wesolveforx.com G+: http://goo.gl/T3qQo

We take it for granted today that you can put data out on the Internet and it will sort of magically move to anywhere else on the planet. What if there were a Matternet that could do the same thing with physical objects? Sounds like FedEx, perhaps, but what if this worked even where there were no roads? Andreas explains how this could be done.

Andreas Raptopoulos is the founder and CEO of Matternet, launching a new paradigm for transportation using a network of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Ralf Lippold]

A crazy sounding vision becomes normality the day it is running. (like the car, phone, internet, ...) Go for it @matternet !!!!

[SalsaTiger83]

I don't think it will work... I'd guess some people will try to intercept these drones, maybe shoot them down -> instant drugs and probably some materials to resell....

[bighands69]

I do not think this is crazy at all only people that are not forward thinking can see the practicality and brilliance of this.

Quite clearly you see the brilliance in this. But there will always be those that say man will never fly. There will never be billions of communications nodes that we now call the internet.

Ignorance breeds doubt.

[bighands69]

Just like burglars and criminals today.

But that is not a reason to stop this development and it will continue.

[Pietro Amati]

I think is a futuristic idea

definitively feasible for rural areas and underdeveloped areas

Cost are dramatically underestimated

auavt com

[mastermenthe]

This is for Africa, not America.

Only Americans shoot down drones for drugs.

[RODOLUKOS]

Good idea. I am a pilot though and I am concerned about aviation safety most of all. This device could interfere with general aviation or large commercial flights since it is unmaned uncontrolled and it can not be monitored by ATC radars. even if it could how the ATC radars could instruct the veicle to change heading and or altitude and speed?or should the ATC divert an airbus taking off or landing with 140 kts around the 40 knot speed device? keep it away from A/C the U.S. airspace if crowded

[diasyuri]

Utopic. Not practical and cost is extremely underestimated.

[thegreatnoleander]

Robert, what is it that I've hidden behind? You are assuming you know the meaning of thegreatnoleander. Do you know me and what I stand for or have you completely judged me by one statement that I've made? You felt attacked personally by what I said and I understand that it doesn't feel good to hear it, but it is completely true. It bothers you so much because you know that you don't deserve having been saved. I don't hide. You are the one who is hiding from the truth.

[Robert Folkerts]

People who explain that they they are profound is not in fact profound: they are pretentious. You have no idea who I am and yet you call me a worthless person. You are a coward hiding being self-importance and a pseudonym. Go ahead, respond as The Great Noleander and prove my point.

[thegreatnoleander]

Get out of the mud and find a high horse for yourself. I spent too much time in the mud and nearly died in it. If only you cleared the mud from your eyes, you'd see clearly enough to understand that what I said is profound. People like you should not be saved, but you don't have to keep being a worthless person. I changed and so can you.

[Robert Folkerts]

I tend to agree with your concerns about a 2 kg limit. The best counter argument I can come up with is a swarm of locust. A swarm of robo locust could descent on field of crops and carry the produce to market. This is a couple of generations beyond this matternet, but it seems physically possible. Rather than scaling up the size of the load, you can scale up the number of loads. This may be useful for a wide class of projects. But eventually, you will face the need to lift heavy things.