Drone deliveries: Florida Tech showcases autonomous aircraft, touts future economic clout
Blades whirring, a hovering Flytrex hexacopter drone unspooled line above a Florida Institute of Technology tennis court, using a red hook to lower a yellow tote bag to the ground.
Then the drone resumed its brief autonomous demonstration flight up to 100 feet above campus and descended for landing, wrapping up its package-delivery mission without human intervention.
"We have done over 60,000 deliveries with this system here in the United States," Paul Rossi, Causey Aviation Unmanned director of development and safety, said to a few dozen onlookers after a round of applause.
The drone demo highlighted Florida Tech's Advanced Air Mobility Tech Showcase, a gathering last week of professionals and students in the ever-expanding drone delivery field.
Founded in 2018, the university's ATLAS Lab researches pilot interfaces for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, supporting air taxi and cargo operations. Elsewhere on the Space Coast, Brevard County Mosquito Control is using drones to spray larvicide across areas that full-size helicopters and wheeled vehicles cannot reach.
"If you haven't followed the news, it's a new technology that is sustainable that's allowing us to do a lot more point-to-point travel, whether that's through drones, cargo, medicinal package delivery, last-mile delivery. And also in the future: passengers," said Fin Bonset, Florida Tech Alumni Association ex-officio and director of aviation at VHB, an airport planning firm.
"So it's really interesting where this is going. And if you actually follow the money if you're in the industry — if you follow where the airlines are spending their money, if you follow where car companies are spending their money, investors — it's all going in that direction," Bonset said.
"And we might very well see kind of a Jetsons-type scenario pretty soon, hopefully in the next five to 10 years," he said.
Bonset said unmanned aerial systems are forecast to become a $30 billion annual industry within the next five to 10 years.
During a PowerPoint presentation, Rossi said Causey Aviation Unmanned was only the fifth drone operator in the nation to secure Federal Aviation Authority certification to deliver goods for the health care, retail and restaurant industries.
The company's Flytrex drones make deliveries to businesses and homes in Granbury, Texas, and a trio of North Carolina cities: Durham, Holly Springs and Raeford.
Causey Aviation Unmanned drones also deliver prescription medications from State University of New York Upstate Medical University's outpatient pharmacy to a nearby hospital.
Rossi said the drones weigh 34 pounds fully loaded, and they can carry packages weighing up to six pounds. They fly in autonomous fashion, with a human pilot available on a backup basis.
What's more, Rossi said the drones fly preprogrammed flight paths within tubular "geofences." If the drone strays outside these invisible boundaries, its emergency parachute automatically deploys.
Chris Fernando, an adjunct faculty in Florida Tech’s College of Aeronautics, said the drone industry has had to overcome years of difficult development to reach this point. Many logistical challenges remain.
"It takes a lot to get things flying safely over people, over homes, at low altitudes," Fernando said.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Drone package deliveries featured at Florida Tech UAV flight event
