DRONEDEK Corporation, one of the first companies in the world to patent a smart mailbox designed for secure drone delivery announced its formal agreement with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to develop, design and produce DRONEDEK units for worldwide distribution.
DRONEDEK holds a first-position patent portfolio for its smart mailbox. It is a feature-rich, secure mailbox that accepts delivery via robotic, unmanned driverless, aerial drone or conventional means.
“DRONEDEK must work with the reliability and redundancy of a 747 airliner with 300 people on it,” said Dan O’Toole, DRONEDEK CEO and Founder. “This new collaboration between BEL and DRONEDEK gives us the edge and credibility we have been looking for in the marketplace.”
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The agreement pairs DRONEDEK’s intellectual property with BEL’s world-class engineering, manufacturing and deployment. DRONEDEK has a robust product roadmap guided by its (filed or awarded) 111 patent claims. BEL is uniquely qualified to deliver a durable product capable of working reliably in any climate.
Initial discussions envision DRONEDEK executing up to $50 million in product purchase orders with units expected by the second quarter of 2022.
“We are always raising the bar on our technical offerings, and we want to continue to be a company of firsts,” said Anandi Ramalingam, Chairman and Managing Director at BEL. “The DRONEDEK opportunity presents for BEL a new vertical in the changing landscape of worldwide, last-mile logistics – one in which we will be able to put a stake in the ground and build on.”
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BEL is a $6.7 billion market cap multi-product, multi-technology, multi-unit conglomerate with products like radars, missile systems, military communications, naval systems, electronic warfare & avionics, C4I systems, electro optics, tank electronics & gun/weapon system upgrades and electronic fuses in the defense segment. BEL’s non-defense business segment includes electronic voting machines, homeland security & smart cities, solar, satellite integration & space electronics, railways, artificial intelligence, cyber security, software as a service, energy storage products and composite shelters & masts.
DRONEDEK mailboxes also accepts traditional mail delivery. They are destined to become an everyday utility service like power or water. Controlled by app, the units will keep packages hot or cold; alert users to package arrival; recharge drones; and issue emergency alerts.
DRONEDEK solves three of the most critical challenges of delivering packages in “the last mile” of the delivery route by:
- Reducing expense – the average cost of drone delivery for that last mile is $1 compared to $2 by truck.
- Increasing efficiency – drone delivery eliminates the need for trucks to drive repeatedly through neighborhoods.
- Providing absolute package security – packages locked in the mailbox are retrieved only via the app.
