A delivery drone is displayed at the RoboUniverse & K-Drone EXPO held at COEX in July. [Photo by Park Sae-jin]
South Korea made a successful test flight in an urban area to evaluate the safety and performance of an auto-piloting drone developed for unmanned postal service.
The test was made on the second complex of government buildings in Sejong south of Seoul, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement. A drone called "Monster 815A" delivered a package from a Korea Post office in a government building to a designated point.
The drone carrying a payload of up to 10 kilograms is capable of flying for up to 40 minutes in a range of 15 kilometers (6.6 miles), the ministry said, adding the whole process of taking off, flying, shipping, and returning was completely automatic with an input of coordinates instead of manual remote control, it said.
If the pilot project is successful, drones would be used for commercial service in remote areas first, the ministry said. "We hope this pilot project will facilitate research on the commercialization of drone delivery by domestic distribution and logistics companies and create new markets in the private sector."
For months from April, test flights have been done in southern remote islands and northwestern mountainous areas. The national postal service would launch a pilot project in November to deliver letters and parcels in remote rural areas for a week.
Across the world, drones have gained huge attention from many delivery companies because of their versatility. They could be used in emergency cases in urban areas and other hard-to-reach places.
E-commerce giant Amazon is the current pioneer in the drone delivery system. The company has developed various drones, carrying out a series of test flights in and out of urban areas. Pizza chain Domino's made its first pizza delivery in New Zealand last week.
In South Korea, KT, a domestic telecom company, demonstrated an autonomous parcel-delivery service drone in early October er that would make its debut during next year's Winter Olympic in the eastern ski resort of Pyeongchang.
Delivery firms have also tested drones. In November last year, food delivery company Yogiyo using an auto-piloting drone has successfully delivered a popular Korean stewlike dish in an urban area. The company, however, has a long way to go for the full commercialization of drone delivery due to legal restrictions and safety.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
