Royal Mail: Postal service to trial using drones
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The drones will carry items from the UK mainland to the Scilly Isles
Drones have been used in lots of cool ways in recent years, and now Royal Mail are set to make use of the devices for a very unique purpose.
The postal service are set to trial the use of drone flights to deliver packages to remote parts of the UK.
Drones will be used to transport health and safety equipment, coronavirus testing kits and other items from the UK mainland to the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall.
The drones will be fully autonomous, which means they'll be making the journey all on their own without the help of humans.
The technology could help postmen and postwomen deliver goods to other remote areas across the UK
It is the first UK parcel courier to use a drone to deliver parcels to remote communities on the islands. The trial will last for one month between the Cornish mainland and the Isles of Scilly.
The aim is to improve connections between the mainland and remote areas.
Parcels will be flown to the islands' airport in St Mary's by a drone that can carry up to 100kg of mail, which is equal to the usual size of a delivery round. Then a smaller drone will be used to drop the parcels at various points around the island.
The Isles of Scilly, which lies just off the coast of Cornwall, is home to around 2,200 people!
It's made up lots of islands including five which people currently live on:
St. Mary's
Tresco
St. Martin's
Bryher
St. Agnes
The benefit of the drone is they are able to fly in poor weather conditions and they do not depend on tides, which is currently what some transport such as boats depend on when they travel to the isle.
Amy Richards, postwoman on the Isles of Scilly said: "There are some really remote areas on these islands, and this is a terrific way to help us reach them. It's really important for us to do all we can to help all areas of the country stay connected - especially in these difficult times."
We've seen a huge increase in parcel volumes since the start of the pandemic, and this is just one of the ways we are looking to support our postmen and postwomen in delivering fast and convenient services for all of our customers while reducing our carbon emissions.
If the trial is successful, Royal Mail will look at using drones to help postmen and postwomen deliver parcels to other remote areas of the UK.
Back in December, Royal Mail was the first UK parcel carrier to deliver a parcel to someone's house via a drone to a remote lighthouse on the Isle of Mull in Scotland.
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