A university in China has become the country’s first to deliver admission notices to students using drones.
On July 15, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carried four admission letters from the South China University of Technology in the southern province of Guangdong to a residential area in the same district in Guangzhou.
The delivery, which covered a distance of around 7km, took the drone 40 minutes, about the same time it would have taken riding a bicycle.
The drone arrived at the destination safely, before a member of staff from China Post staff took the package off the UAV and delivered the letters to four students.
Tu Sulan, the first student to receive her package, was admitted as a chemistry major.
She said she was “very excited about the convenience of the new technology”.
Zou Liwen, a spokesperson for China Post’s Guangzhou division said the destination and timing of the deliveries were carefully chosen, taking into account landing space, weather and the strength of the signal required to help power the drone.
The UAV was made by the Guangzhou-based Chinese drone maker EHang.
It can carry up to 5kg in weight and only requires a five-square-metre space to land. The device can cover a distance of up to 20km.
In recent years, the number of people admitted to universities in China annually numbers about 10 million. This is the first time that an admission letter was ever delivered by a drone.
The delivery is being seen as a pilot for more such dispatches in the future.
The logistics industry sees drones as a faster and safer solution for short-distance deliveries.
According to the mainland media outlet and research institute, 36Kr, a 3km distance usually takes a human delivery worker 30 minutes to complete. A UAV is considerably faster.
The pilot forms part of the city’s ambition to develop a “low-altitude economy” in which drones can fly.
Guangzhou also plans to use drones to deliver urgent blood samples, spray pesticide in precise farm land locations, and even transport people.
Online observers had mixed feelings about the news.
“I am envious of the kids nowadays. How cool it is to have your admission notice delivered by a drone,” one person said.
“It still needs a human to deliver the packages into the hands of the students,” said another.
While a third person said: “Unmanned everything is everywhere. I wish there would still be jobs left for humans.”
