Delivery company UPS has successfully completed a test with a specially-designed electric truck whose roof slides open to reveal an autonomous octocopter drone.
The driver loads a package into a cage beneath the drone, the drone grabs the package, then flies it over to its destination.
The drone is no replacement for the driver, but is meant to increase the driver’s efficiency on sprawling rural routes. For instance, imagine if the driver needs to hit three addresses that are miles apart in a triangular formation. The driver reaches point A to make the delivery by hand, and deploys the drone to deliver to point B. The driver then heads for point C, and the drone catches up with the truck on the way and docks itself. The driver has saved themself from having to drive two sides of that triangle.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython tops Tom’s Hardware Best RP2040 Boards 2021 and more #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF
