<\/p>\n
Tony Gilbert uses drones for aerial mapping. IMAGE: Claudia Baxter<\/p>\n
A Queensland builder has predicted a new wave of home designs incorporating drone landing pads could hit the property market in as little as three years.<\/p>\n
RELATED: <\/p>\n
Printing a house to live in<\/a> <\/p>\n While it may sound like the plot of a Ken Saunders book, it could in fact become a reality in just a few years.<\/p>\n In Saunders\u2019 book 2028, there are no longer postal delivery by postmen\/women. Instead, drones deliver the mail and provide surveillance for ASIO.<\/p>\n Saunders said he wrote the first draft of his \u201ccomedy\u201d novel 2028 in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t so much an attempt to predict the future, but more to describe a world where some of the not very good ideas around today have developed in slightly preposterous ways that sort of make sense, almost.\u201d<\/p>\n Saunders put pen to paper in a comical way, but builder Rivergum Homes design director John Eckert said the reality was that drone landing pads would become a viable option for new houses in the not-to-distant future.<\/p>\n An artists\u2019 impression of Rivergum Homes\u2019 future drone landing pads to be incorporated into Queensland homes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I think of how online shopping has evolved in the last decade, it\u2019s easy to see how this will affect the design of our homes to allow for a superior delivery experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking to the future, drones would certainly offer a unique way of maximising roof space with the inclusion of landing pads integrated onto the roof or into backyard designs to meet the advances in lifestyles.\u201d<\/p>\n Drone operator Tony Gilbert said drone delivery was an idea well worth exploring. IMAGE: Claudia Baxter<\/p>\n For drone operator Tony Gilbert, who specialises in aerial mapping for engineers, surveyors, developers, building designers and other commercial organisations, the future or drone delivery is not a joke.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a really great use of the technology, a logical use of the technology,\u201d Mr Gilbert said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnywhere where you can reduce the cost of ordinary everyday product by using technology, it\u2019s well worthwhile exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n >>FOLLOW EMILY BLACK ON FACEBOOK<<<\/a> <\/p>\n A year-long trial backed by Google, Project Wing, wrapped up in the ACT a fortnight ago; now the company has set its sights on launching the world\u2019s first commercial delivery drone operation in urban Canberra before June.<\/p>\n Civil Aviation Safety Authority corporate communications manager Peter Gibson said the trial to deliver fast-food from unmanned aircraft in Bonython was the only one like it in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cGoogle decided to come all the way from the West Coast of the US about two years ago,\u201d Mr Gibson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said under Australia\u2019s rules a lot of the regulatory issues they would have faced in America were already solved because we had a set of clear rules of what they could and couldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n He said when it came to drone deliveries becoming mainstream, the world was still in trial and developmental stage.<\/p>\n \u201cParticularly getting the unmanned traffic systems right so the drones can fly safely and navigate their way around without running into obstacles or themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a homeowner, it\u2019s not something you could envisage using in the medium to near future, but in the long term it\u2019s highly likely yes.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Gibson said the landing pads could have more practical applications, such as a portable structure to land a drone after a shark patrol on the South Coast of New South Wales he witnessed.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal council had paid a company to move up and down it\u2019s beaches to do shark patrols and he had a little piece of metal on the sand with \u2018H; on it, like helicopter and he put traffic cones in a circle 30m out so it would keep people away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr Eckert said as drone delivery systems continued to be tested and explored, it was hard to put an exact date on when it will be integrated into day-to-day lives.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s certainly something that Rivergum Homes will be prepared for when the time comes, whether that be three or five years down the track.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n