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<td>[freeside] Bay Area Startup Wants to Deliver Tacos Via
Unmanned Quadcopter (Maybe)</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:46:40 +0000</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Curbob <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:curbob@gmail.com"><curbob@gmail.com></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td>Freeside Atlanta <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:freesideatlanta@googlegroups.com"><freesideatlanta@googlegroups.com></a></td>
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<h3 style="margin: 0px 3px; font-family: sans-serif;">Sent to you
by Curbob via Google Reader:</h3>
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<div class=""><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/bay-area-startup-wants-deliver-tacos-unmanned-quadcopter-drone-maybe">Bay
Area Startup Wants to Deliver Tacos Via Unmanned Quadcopter
(Maybe)</a></div>
</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em;">via <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popsci.com" class="f">Popular Science - New
Technology, Science News, The Future Now</a> by Clay Dillow on
3/26/12</div>
<br style="display: none;">
<div><img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/Screen%20Shot%202012-03-26%20at%2010.49.19%20AM.png"
alt="" title="">
<div><strong>TacoCopter.com</strong> <em></em></div>
</div>
<div>Hoaxes involving Cal-Mex are twice as cruel
<p>It's the kind of tech startup that we could really get
excited about if we weren't fairly certain it's some kind of
hoax. A Web site has popped up at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://tacocopter.com/">TacoCopter.com</a> that offers
a unique service: tacos airlifted directly to your doorstep
via unmanned quadcopter drone. The rise of the machines never
sounded so scrumptious.</p>
<p>Here's the idea as outlined on TacoCopter.com: customers
download a smartphone app, which allows them to order tacos to
a specific location. The tacos then arrive via flying
quadcopter. Tipping your delivery drone is presumably
optional. That's it. It's so brilliant, we can't believe the
kids down at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/video-grasp-lab-quadcopters-jam-out-james-bond-theme">the
GRASP Lab</a> haven't already cornered the market on this.</p>
<p>But all may not be as it seems. The TacoCopter.com site says
the service is in private beta (you can request an invite) in
the San Francisco Bay area, and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/tacocopter-to-use-flying-drones-to-deliver-your-tacos-possibly/">Digital
Trends</a> notes that the domain is registered to one Star
Simpson, whose <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://boingboing.net/2007/09/21/mit-student-arrested.html">claim
to Internet fame</a> was having a homemade LED shirt
mistaken for a bomb at Boston Logan International some years
back. The charges stemming from that incident were "possession
of a hoax device."</p>
<p>So is TacoCopter.com simply another hoax? The thing is,
Simpson is of MIT origins, a self-proclaimed inventor, artist,
and engineer. That's somewhat annoying, since we don't know
which hat she might be donning as the human intelligence
behind TacoCopter.com. For now, we're assuming that we're
going to have to continue getting our tacos the old-fashioned
way (or in our case, being an NYC-based operation, our lobster
rolls--the Web site teases East Coasters with the promise of
"LobsterCopter," the "Taco of the East!")</p>
<p>But if there's a more important takeaway here--even more
important than the tantalizing possibility of air-dropped
carnitas--it's that this sort of thing is less far-fetched
than it might seem. The FAA is <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-02/under-newly-authorized-airspace-rules-drones-will-fly-alongside-piloted-planes-2015">opening
up the national airspace to drones</a> over the next few
years. By the end of 2015, all kinds of unmanned systems will
have access to the skies. The potential for quadcopter
couriers and other robotic, semi-autonomous or autonomous
transport grows more real by the day. If the future really is
filled with self-driving cars and autonomous aerial drones,
then it's fair to say that the delicious on-demand Cali-Mex
experience of the future could very well have a robotic aspect
to it.</p>
<p>While we breathlessly await that future, we invite any Bay
area readers who want to investigate to let us know how it
goes. The comments section below, as always, is all yours.</p>
<p>[<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/tacocopter-to-use-flying-drones-to-deliver-your-tacos-possibly/">Digital
Trends</a>]</p>
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<h3 style="margin: 0px 3px; font-family: sans-serif;">Things you
can do from here:</h3>
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