Frequently(ish) Asked Questions

How did you come up with the name? 

Jeff had too much time on his hands.

How much weight are drones realistically able to carry?

Drones are able to lift a lot more weight than you might initially think. Some drones, like the Aurelia X8 Standard, can lift an upwards of 35 pounds.

Is battery life an issue?

Yes. Although the technology is improving, and flight times based on the battery are increasing, battery life is a hinderance upon our ability to operate. However, to solve this problem, we've found a way to mitigate this issue (we're not quite ready to share how we'll do this yet, however 😉).

How will these drones stay out of traffic, and avoid dropping litter into oncoming traffic?

Although the full answer would be a 20 minute read, the short answer is, through multiple checks "under the hood" of the drone.

For staying out of the roads, the drones will have programming logic which gives them orders to never pass over asphalt or pavement.

For not dropping objects, there will be constant checks and confirmations regarding the hold a drone has on the refuse it's carrying. That confidence value of how good of a hold the drone has, will be set to a certain threshold. If the confidence value decreases (losing proper grip), the drone will move to a safe area, drop it, pick it back up, and continue carrying it

Who do you sell to? Who do you work with?

Primarily we will work with governments and private contractors that have a need for our services. We will also provide drones to non-profits and cleanup groups to help them with their litter cleanup efforts. This will not be done through sales, but rather partnerships where we provide drones to them for helping with cleaning up litter.

What are the main objectives of this company?

For one, we're aiming to create a cleaner, and safer environment. We're building this technology to play a small part in the global effort to pick up litter, and to provide other environmentally-conscious organizations with this technology to help them with cleaning up litter in their own individual cleanup efforts. A big emphasis of this company will be towards giving back to the communities we serve, by sponsoring and hosting events, and providing education on the impacts of litter. 

What does the future hold for The A.R.N.O.L.D. Project?

This technology can be applied in many different areas, but one that would be an incredible place to help, would be with firefighting efforts. Although the litter problem is the primary focus of this project, at some point we intend to design drones that are able to help in more than just this area.