Amazon has never been shy about its grand ideas. Its latest project involves a drone delivery hub that looks like a futuristic beehive, and it's as amusing as it is impressive.
Shopping Innovation
Amazon has truly earned a name for itself with innovative shopping experiences. From floating warehouses to an underground delivery system, Amazon seems to be looking at more innovative and outlandish ways to make shopping more convenient for its customers.
Its latest idea seems to be something that's straight out of science fiction for it has evidently patented a multi-level drone delivery hub that looks strikingly like a futuristic beehive. Except instead of bees coming in and out of the hive and making honey, delivery drones will be rushing in and out of the hub to deliver online shopping purchases.
Delivery Drone Hub
In the patent application, Amazon describes the building as a multi-level fulfillment center that can accommodate the easy landing and take-off of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in a densely populated area. The structure's interior will be housed by an exterior shell that has a storage area where the ordered items will be organized, and multiple openings in order to accommodate easy landings and take-offs for the UAVs.
From the image provided in the patent application, the hub does look uncannily like a beehive with multiple openings along the exterior of the building where the drones could go in and out. However, before anyone has any ideas about flying in their own drones into the building, the landing areas will be locked until after a drone authentication has been completed.
Amazon describes the hub as a way to easily access its customers as opposed to the traditional warehouses which typically require a large amount of space, are often located on the outskirts of a city, far from where people live.
Thus, by designing a building that can be located at the center of a city, deliveries can be done much faster by taking advantage of drones, and package pick-up would be much easier.
Amazon On Fire
It has been a good week for Amazon indeed after the retail empire acquired Whole Foods for a whopping $13.7 million. Hot on its heels is the question of whether this acquisition could mean that Whole Foods would be a part of Amazon's reinvention of retail shopping.
So far, the answer seems to be leaning towards retaining Whole Foods' current, more traditional shopping format — for now, at least. No one really knows what Amazon will do next, and if Whole Foods will soon be dropping health food via a floating warehouse or a drone from its beehive hub.
