E-commerce drone coming to a doorstep near you?

Commercial package delivery by drone is still many years — and regulatory amendments — away from being a practical reality, but that hasn’t stopped today’s engineers from dreaming up new and ingenious ways to fly these versatile machines.

As a preview to the launch of Air Cargo World‘s September issue next week, featuring an article on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and how it may shape the future of e-commerce delivery, here’s a cool video of Sony’s new Aerosense prototype, being developed jointly with Japanese robotics specialists, ZMP. It’s unlike any other drone system we’ve seen before.

Unlike the now-familiar quad- or hexa-copter design, with rotors located around the perimeter of the craft, the Aeorsense has just two counter-rotating propellers to give it stable vertical lift. Once aloft, the rotors can then pivot vertically to produce horizontal forward thrust, so the drone can fly like a fixed-wing plane, with movable radio-controlled rudders and wing surfaces. Upon arrival, the rotors can be tilted back horizontally so it can land like a helicopter.

Once perfected, the Aerosense may be able to lift up to 22 pounds and fly at speeds of up to 106 kilometers per hour for a period of about two hours per battery charge, engineers say. Impressive numbers, indeed, but let’s hope they fix the noise issue heard on this video. We decided it was a cross between a rusty chainsaw and a dentist’s drill.