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China is deploying robots and drones to remotely disinfect hospitals, deliver food and enforce quarantine restrictions as part of the effort to fight coronavirus.

Chinese state media has reported that drones and robots are being used by the government to cut the risk of person-to-person transmission of the disease.

There are 780 million people that are on some form of residential lockdown in China. Wuhan, the city where the viral outbreak began, has been sealed off from the outside world for weeks.

As American drone operators try to understand how the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) drone Remote Identification proposal would affect them, one of the most concerning issues is proving to be the requirement that every drone transmit the location of its pilot in near-real time.

The ability to locate a drone pilot is extremely useful for police, airports and other authorities to quickly resolve safety and security challenges, but we also understand why some drone pilots don’t want their location available to just anyone. DJI, like other companies innovating Remote ID systems, must follow the FAA’s lead on pilot location, so our demonstration solutions have made that information available to anyone with a smartphone. But that requirement isn’t final.

Now, two new developments are shining a spotlight on the FAA’s proposed pilot location requirement – and at just the right time when American drone pilots can make their voices heard about it.

This week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Amazon that covers “energy-efficient launch system for aerial vehicles,” meaning Amazon could be working on a way to fling your packages into the air—or space.

While at first a weird concept, it makes sense in context. This whip-like approach could shoot satellites into space as part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper low-Earth satellite constellation or Amazon drones that would zoom off to deliver packages.

We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment on the patent and we’ll update this story once we get a response.

Take a look at this latest Israeli-developed counter-drone technology and watch the Drone Dome laser, dubbed Light Blade, take down a number of DJI Phantoms. The video that was uploaded to YouTube today shows a truck-mounted version of Drone Dome, a Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) weapon. The setup includes a search radar, drone-radio command detector, an electro-optical sensor, and a command-and-control system.

Your dream to get a pizza delivered by a drone or an Amazon drone knocking at the door will remain a dream as researchers have revealed that a drone delivery service is not realistic and may not be possible in densely-pulated areas.

The reason is simple: Demand for drone delivery in e-retail is high but the ability to meet that demand is very low.

For a city like New York, the optimal design for the test locations, based on all factors, is three drone facilities covering 75% of NYC area and 34% of the population.