Government: why u no like tacos?

southsiderosie · 25-03-2012 10:54pm #1

Reportedly unmanned mini-helicopter drones are being tested to deliver tacos:

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

It's an unmanned drone helicopter shooting a taco from space down at you and your colleagues during lunchtime!

The Internet is going wild for Tacocopter, perhaps the next great startup out of Silicon Valley, which boasts a business plan that combines four of the most prominent touchstones of modern America: tacos, helicopters, robots and laziness.

Indeed, the concept behind Tacocopter is very simple, and very American: You order tacos on your smartphone and also beam in your GPS location information. Your order -- and your location -- are transmitted to an unmanned drone helicopter (grounded, near the kitchen where the tacos are made), and the tacocopter is then sent out with your food to find you and deliver your tacos to wherever you're standing.

You pay online, so the tacos are simply dropped off at your feet by the drone helicopter, which then flies back to the restaurant to pick up its next order.

Genius, I say! But apparently the federal government isn't crazy about taco drones buzzing around cities. As one of the inventors noted:

"Honestly I think it's not totally unreasonable to regulate something as potentially dangerous as having flying robots slinging tacos over people's heads ... [O]n the other hand, it's a little bit ironic that that's the case in a country where you can be killed by drone with no judicial review."

Boo government! I for one welcome our new taco robot overlords.

Would you be interested in ordering takeout delivery from a robot/drone in the future? Or is this just one more step towards Skynet?

Coriolanus · 25-03-2012 10:59pm

Itd certainly cut down on deaths amongst lost mountain climbers I guess.
What if I want a burger though?

Mr. CooL ICE · 25-03-2012 11:00pm

Why stop at tacos? I would order the fondant filling from creme eggs for all of my friends

oppenheimer1 · 25-03-2012 11:10pm

It will never get off the ground.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 25-03-2012 11:20pm

Jesus, I could go for a taco right now.

Doc Ruby · 25-03-2012 11:32pm

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Jesus, I could go for a taco right now.

And I would interfere with the GPS on your taco delivery and eat all your tacos, before proudly displaying the helicopter to the international community, with a taco smear down the side of my grinning mouth.

Terry · 25-03-2012 11:40pm

This is far better: http://torrentfreak.com/worlds-first-flying-file-sharing-drones-in-action-120320/

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 25-03-2012 11:53pm

Doc Ruby wrote: »

And I would interfere with the GPS on your taco delivery and eat all your tacos, before proudly displaying the helicopter to the international community, with a taco smear down the side of my grinning mouth.

Whaaaa......?

GreenWolfe · 25-03-2012 11:57pm

Taco-seeking missiles, anyone?

Doc Ruby · 26-03-2012 12:12am

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Whaaaa......?

Going for a topical Iran reference there... also I'm hungry and can't be bothered with making a toasted cheese and onion sandwich... I want tacos. Bring me tacos!

Casillas · 26-03-2012 12:36am

Really, there's no-where in the states to buy food? No-where that delivers?

Hande hoche! · 26-03-2012 12:45am

Any aircraft violating airspace will be fired upon.

policarp · 26-03-2012 1:06am

Looks like Loaves and Fishes
or Manna from heaven to me. . .

southsiderosie · 26-03-2012 3:51pm

Terry wrote: »

This is far better: http://torrentfreak.com/worlds-first-flying-file-sharing-drones-in-action-120320/

Wow, that is amazing. Plus they are beautiful.

We have built a flock of GPS enabled quadcopter drones from components that were originally intended for aerial reconnaissance and police surveillance to create this flying pirate file sharing network. The drones are autonomous and drift above the public spaces of the city as a balletic interactive aerial choreography. Part nomadic infrastructure and part robotic swarm we have rebuilt and programmed the drones to broadcast their own local wifi network as a form of aerial Napster. They swarm into formation, broadcasting their pirate network, and then disperse, escaping detection, only to reform elsewhere.

The public can upload files, photos and share data with one another as the drones float above the significant public spaces of the city. The swarm becomes a pirate broadcast network, a mobile infrastructure that passers-by can interact with. It is a site specific file sharing hub, a temporary, emergent online community where content and information is exchanged across the drone network. When on location, a visitor can log onto the drone network with their phones and laptops. When the audience interacts with the drones they glow with vibrant colours, they break formation, they are called over and their flight pattern becomes more dramatic and expressive. Impromptu augmented communities form around the glowing flock. Their aerial dance and dynamic glowing formations give visual expression to the digital communities of the city.

Government: why u no like tacos?

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