by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNabb
When delivery drones fill the skies, where will they land? Could or not it’s in environmentally friendly, folded-steel vertiports?
The Swedish air-mobility company Kookiejar has just partnered with their countrymen at design and technology firm STILFOLD to create latest vertiport modules made with their “industrial origami” technology, which uses robot arms to fold inexpensive and sustainable steel sheet panels into latest structures with only minimal components. While that is their first foray into aviation, other STILFOLD projects include collaborations with Polestar Cars to create the world’s climate-neutral automotive, and their STILBIKE, an electrical motorcycle constructed using their progressive latest manufacturing processes.
As Max Hoffman, Head of Strategic Projects at Kookiejar, said of their press release, “KookieJar is establishing a network of transportation hubs for cost-effective and environmentally sustainable aerial deliveries and passenger services. Autonomous drone and VTOL takeoff and landing platforms (aka vertiports) are an important component in automating and facilitating drone deliveries and air taxi services on a big scale while ensuring safety and functionality.” As drone delivery is anticipated to blow up within the US, Kookiejar thinks that constructing its advanced drone landing pads using STILFOLD’s industrial know-how will help them scale its technology to achieve the urban and rural customers they hope to serve. Jonas Nyvang, the CEO of STILFOLD, said, “This partnership with Kookiejar is further proof that our manufacturing technology provides entirely latest opportunities across virtually every kind of producing industries. We see a spread of exciting advantages for the aviation industry as an entire. With the ability to take a number one position in future transportation through drones is one other significant advantage we eagerly anticipate and we will’t wait to begin constructing with the Kookiejar team.”
The difficulty of affordably creating areas for drones to land isn’t unique to Kookiejar, nonetheless, and multiple corporations have sought to resolve the problems involved with constructing an entire latest style of infrastructure. Vertiports aren’t only a flat landing pad- they need to offer air traffic control, weather data, logistics, battery services, and more. The fundamental issue is making them cost effective- there isn’t very much incentive to construct them today, but without them, advanced air mobility can’t move forward. Kookiejar is betting that STILFOLD’s tech will help them roll out latest lines of vertiports across the globe.
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