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Want that Amazon order in just 30 minutes? Company CEO Jeff Bezos says he hopes to soon deploy an armada of mini-drones able to drop small packages at your doorstep.
The U.S. online retail giant's revolutionary project still needs extra safety testing and federal approval, but Bezos believes that Amazon "Prime Air" would be up and running within four to five years.
"I know this looks like science fiction. It's not," he said. "We can do half-hour delivery…and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds, which covers 86% of the items that we deliver."
A video posted on the company's website shows a prototype drone. The body of the device is about the size of a flat-screen monitor, and it is attached to eight small helicopter rotors and sits on four tall legs.
The claws under the belly of the "octopeter" then latch onto a standard sized plastic bucket that rolls down a conveyer belt at Amazon's distribution center. Inside the bucket is the order.
The drone lifts off and whizzes into the air like a giant mechanical insect to deliver the package just 30 minutes after clicking the "pay" button on Amazon.com. Then it buzzes back into the air and returns to base.