Dunkin’ joins contactless delivery by dropping donuts via drone

Dunkin’ is the latest to join in on drone deliveries for their donuts — but this story is a little different.

In an effort to see his grandkids (from afar) and make a contactless delivery (of some donuts), a Boston-area man used a drone to fashion his own donut-drone-delivery-copter in a video supported and shared widely by the team at donut chain Dunkin’.

Kevin Procopio, a grandpa of three, has been known by his family for a long time now for airdropping packages via drone. Since coronavirus kicked in and families have been forced to social distanced, Procopio was looking for a creative way to see his grandkids while also maintaining social distancing.

So, he took his drone, attached some Dunkin’ Munchkins donut holes to his drone and flew them to his grandkids.

The video was documented by Dunkin and shared widely on their social media pages with the tagline, “Hereos come in all forms.” Watch it here:

The drone in the video appears to be a DJI Mavic Pro drone. While the DJI Mavic Pro is not designed specifically to carry payloads, third-party manufacturers have built their own release and drop devices. Contraptions like the Drone Sky Hook lock onto your DJI Mavic Pro — requiring minimal installation skills on your end — and allow you to trigger the release of the payload through the drone’s controller.

Note: the Drone Girl team has not independently reviewed payload products, and does not necessarily endorse them. Some reviewers have noted that these products make drones harder to fly and put them at higher risk of crashing, so use at your own risk.

A number of drone use cases have sprung up over the past couple months as coronavirus brings a new set of needs — or at least incites the idea that there is a need. Companies have touted projects like spraying public places from the air with disinfectant, equipping drones with loudspeakers to remind them to wear masks, or conducting body temperature checks. Many of those use cases have turned out to be controversial, and big players from drone consulting and advisory nonprofits to DJI itself have come out against them.

But a delivery of donuts between a grandpa and his kids is something pretty harmless, and ultimately quite sweet.