Drone Delivery Research Picks Up

Department of Energy funds interdisciplinary project studying implications of the future of autonomous robots. In the future, fleets of drones may carry packages overhead while autonomous robots as small as a dog or as large as a box truck may roll along our sidewalks and streets. A team of faculty from Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering , School of Computer Science and Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help understand the energy implications of this vision. The DOE provided $2.5 million to fund this and another project that will improve energy efficiency and increase mobility intelligence. The goal in this particular project is to create a comprehensive analysis of how drones, autonomous vehicles, robots and intelligently managed infrastructure can improve the first and last mile of goods transportation - the most costand energy-intensive portions of delivery. The team is led by Associate Professor Costa Samaras and Assistant Professor Sean Qian of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , and Senior Systems Scientist Sebastian Scherer of the School of Computer Science. Parallel advances in artificial intelligence, drones and robotics and vehicle electrification have opened a window into a new future for the transportation of goods.