CHILDREN’S ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS — Package delivery company UPS partnered with drone-maker CyPhy Works to conduct a test delivery using a drone last Thursday.
The drone used in the test delivery was CyPhy Works’ Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications system (PARC). It flew three miles over the Atlantic Ocean from Beverly, Massachusetts to Children’s Island, where it successfully delivered an asthma inhaler to a child at the camp.
The PARC drone is battery-powered and equipped with night vision. It also features secure communications system, preventing information from being intercepted or disrupted.
“Drone technology used in this way can save lives and deliver products and services to places that are difficult to reach by traditional transit infrastructures, ” Helen Greiner, the founder and chief technology officer of CyPhy Works said in a press release.
Greiner told NBC49.com that the drones are not going to replace delivery trucks.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration’s rules for commercial use of drones officially took effect last month, which include a number of restrictions on commercial drone operations.
