3 ms·

Can engineers please critique the following idea: Design city size "Spidercam" style delivery systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4 https://www.y

Can engineers please critique the following idea: Design city size "Spidercam" style delivery systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGAa6ww7S4 3-4 tall pylons with heavy duty winches and kevlar cable linked in the middle to hold a winch system that can lower a delivery box anywhere in the city. 1/4 inch kevlar rope weighs 2lb per 100ft, therefore a 2 mile kevlar rope would weigh 210lbs, but has a load bearing capacity of 9500lbs. So this system would allow accurate delivery anywhere in a 2mile x 2 mile area. Potentially these could be coupled to allow transfer between areas to allow deliveries to be passed along a chain. Multiple winches could be stacked on pylons to allow multiple sets of ropes, with winches which are near to delivery/pickup points moved downwards and to lower rope tension to avoid other winches/ropes bumping into them.

derp_dee_derp 7y ago
I can tell you why this will never be a thing: the infrastructure cost is way too high. Not just the cost of materials and labor, either. I'm talking social, political, and environmental costs. people would fight this left and right. Power lines are already considered an eye sore in many places and are required to be underground. good luck convincing people that a power line with a bunch of moving boxes on it is going to be any better. its essentially a gondola for packages and no one wants that in their backyard.
rtkwe 7y ago
You'll have large shadows defined by where buildings are in relation to the pylons and the shuttle would not be able to descend below the roof line in many areas outside of a subdivision with low 2 story houses depending on how tall the towers are. In addition you can't really do this anywhere there is going to be air traffic with the current systems as you'll need to shut it down whenever a helicopter wants to fly through.

derp_dee_derp 7y ago

I can tell you why this will never be a thing: the infrastructure cost is way too high. Not just the cost of materials and labor, either. I'm talking social, political, and environmental costs. people would fight this left and right. Power lines are already considered an eye sore in many places and are required to be underground. good luck convincing people that a power line with a bunch of moving boxes on it is going to be any better. its essentially a gondola for packages and no one wants that in their backyard.

rtkwe 7y ago

You'll have large shadows defined by where buildings are in relation to the pylons and the shuttle would not be able to descend below the roof line in many areas outside of a subdivision with low 2 story houses depending on how tall the towers are. In addition you can't really do this anywhere there is going to be air traffic with the current systems as you'll need to shut it down whenever a helicopter wants to fly through.