One of my few issues of living in Boston revolves around package delivery. Living on campus, any package that gets delivered to me I would have to pick up myself, which involves scheduling a time when the package place is open and carry it back. Living off campus, if no one is home to open the door for the delivery person, the package gets stored somewhere else, which leaves me with the same issue. Additionally, most delivery services don’t provide an exact time of delivery.
I believe this issue can largely be solved by automating the delivery process. Take the delivery person out of the equation, and give power to the person who wants the package. If package were delivered by a fleet of drones, the receiving party could check the location of their drone, and be given a more precise time of arrival. Additionally, they could tell the drone when to deliver.
A number of companies have already begun to work on this issue. One famous example is Amazon, with the development of Amazon Prime Air. This service uses unmanned aerial drones for delivery, though it seems that, for now, it is geared more towards rural areas. Another example is Starship Technologies, which uses small, autonomous, land vehicles for delivery within cities.
Solving this issues requires knowledge of multiple disciplines, since, at least with the examples mentioned, there are several mechanical, electrical, and software challenges to be overcome. While my mechanical engineering background would mostly relate to the mechanical components of these autonomous robots, my concentration in mechatronics is precisely geared towards the combination, or blend, of all three disciplines. This is important, since with these complex systems, it is very challenging to change one feature without affecting others. For example, the placement of a sensor could affect the center of balance of an aerial drone, how it is wired, or how it is utilized in the programming. An engineer that finds his/herself faced with such a problem might not be able to make the best decision if they do not have at least rudimentary knowledge of other disciplines, while a mechatronics engineer may be more qualified.
