Japanese company will test snack deliveries to golfers via drones
Over in Japan, Rakuten is sort of the equivalent of ecommerce giants
like Amazon or China's Alibaba. And like those companies, Rakuten is
interested in the prospects of delivering packages via autonomous
drones.
As part of its research, the company has bought into Japanese drone
maker Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory – and one if its first tests
will be to see how an ACSL drone can handle delivering goodies to
golfers during their rounds.
Starting in May,
Rakuten and ACSL will conduct field tests at a golf course in Chiba.
Using a smartphone app, golfers will be able to order food, beverages
and perhaps even other small items like golf balls, and a drone will be
dispatched from the clubhouse to deliver the order.
The companies have given no indication of what specifically they're
looking to prove in the test, but the potential for
snack-and-supply-delivering drones seems great. Here's a quick video of
the ACSL that'll be the subject of the test – it doesn’t do much in the video, but you can see what it looks like:
EmoticonEmoticon