Arrive AI successfully tests fully automated drone delivery at Artomobilia 2024

ARTOMOBILIA received his trophy by drone delivery to an Arrive AI mailbox. What neither he nor other attendees realized was that the transaction was fully automated.

Arrive AI has delivered food, beer and other items in past demonstrations in Indiana and across the country, but in each of those actions, a human being was fully engaged in piloting the drone and operating mechanics to lower the package into the mailbox. This time, a human pressed a button and the machines did all the work.

"This is a big deal - an Aha! Moment, if you will," said Arrive AI CEO Dan O'Toole. "It really shows you our vision of a push-button, human-free delivery system, and it went off without a hitch."

The demonstration took place at the Carmel Arts and Design Center. Robert Johnston, Arrive AI's technical product manager, input the Arrive AI mailbox's (Arrive Point) coordinates into the drone's mission management system. When it was time for the delivery, the drone operator pressed a single button, initiating the fully autonomous flight.

The drone flew to the Arrive AI mailbox, authenticated through an application programming interface (API) that it was the correct delivery point and delivered its package via winch. The system used GPS and an ArUco marker (similar to a QR code) to identify the mailbox and also triggered the mailbox to open. An infrared locking system stabilized the drone, ensuring precision delivery as the parcel was lowered. Once the delivery was confirmed by the mailbox, the drone withdrew the winch and returned to its home base.

"Everyone in the crowd was impressed, but I don't think they understood how impressive this delivery actually was," O'Toole said. "They might have thought our team was a little bit more excited than we should have been, but we knew we had just witnessed a technological breakthrough."

In the future, when an Arrive Point mailbox is installed at an address, its GPS coordinates will be stored in Arrive AI's cloud-based database. The "push of a button" operation will be seamlessly managed through apps and delivery services, optimizing autonomous delivery for a range of users. Arrive AI is working to refine this precision delivery process, working toward a fully autonomous, human-free delivery system.