There’s now a Girl Scout cookie delivery drone — designed by Girl Scouts, of course
You’ve seen the (often overstated) hype around Chipotle burrito deliveries, Domino’s Pizza deliveries and even deliveries precise enough to replace waiters.
But here’s one food delivery by drone that I’m legitimately hyped about: Girl Scout cookie delivery. And it’s not because I so desperately need my Thin Mints to fly through the air to find their way into my pantry. These drones have a deeper meaning.
Girl Scout Cookies delivered by drone? Don't count it out! These Girl Scouts built Girl Scout Drones at the STEM Center of Excellence at Camp Whispering Cedars. The sky's the limit to what G.I.R.L.s can do…literally!https://t.co/JDbdTFzAWv
— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) August 7, 2018
Girl Scouts are now building drones. A group of Girl Scouts at the STEM Center of Excellence at Camp Whispering Cedars spent four days in a drone camp, learning safe flying, drone assembly, and even flying an obstacle course. They also developed business models for drone businesses in a Shark Tank-style setting.
The Girl Scouts worked with drone company OnPoynt Aerial Solutions to make it happen.
- Related read: Now you can buy drone books for kids
- Related read: This $99 drone uses DJI and Intel tech to teach kids how to code
The news of the Girl Scout drone camp comes on the heels of an announcement earlier this summer that the Girl Scouts of the USA would roll out 30 new badges, mostly focused on STEM subjects.
One in particular, a robotics badge, gives scouts the honor after they design, build and program a robot. Related badges include cybersecurity, where girls learnhow computers and the internet work and apply the concepts of safety and protection to the technology they use every day, and space science, where the Scouts explore, observe, and investigate the Sun, Moon, and stars.
The trend of “drones for education” has grown in the past few years.
French dronemaker Parrot makes the Mambo drones, specifically targeted at STEM education. Chinese drone manufacturer Ryze Tech partnered with DJI to create a $99 kid-friendly drone that combines DJI flight technology and an Intel processor to create a budget camera drone that also can be used to teach newbies the basics of programming. The Tello drone utilizes Scratch as its coding platform. Scratch is a programming language targeted at children. Essentially, you can program the drone to fly certain directions based on the “code” you have written.
There are also less conventional drones for kids, such as the Flybrix Lego drone kit, which includes a preprogrammed board, propellers and motors. It’s intended to be a tool to teach its users a variety of skills, from the principles of flight to computer science to the basics of electrical engineering. The Flybrix Lego drone kit currently retails for $45.67 on Amazon.