'Tacocopter' Would Use Unmanned Aircraft, Smartphones, GPS For Lunch Delivery

So it's lunchtime. You feel a grumble in your stomach, and nothing sounds better than a nice taco. But you can't get away from the office, so you grab your smartphone and place an order. Sometime later ... a small VTOL UAV comes buzzing to your location with your order, drops it off, and flies away.

That's the business model of Tacocopter, which plans to use autonomous UAVs to deliver fast food ... should the FAA determine that they're compatible in U.S. airspace. But the business plan is apparently all the rage on the Internet, according to the Huffington Post.

And FAA approval of UAVs is just one big "if" in the business plan. The aircraft would have to be able to avoid complex urban terrain, as well as things like birds and telephone wires, and deliver the tacos safely without crashing 100 percent of the time. Not to mention that the company's hopeful owners have even even considered that someone might just steal their aircraft along with their budget lunch. And they're working on how to assure the person eating the taco is actually the person who ordered and paid for it.

Co Founders Star Simpson, Dustin Boyer, and Stott Torborg have created a website that is generating a lot of interest. But even they say that the legal hurdles seem "insurmountable" ... for now. Simpson said she has placed Tacocopter on the back burner, using what she learned studying personal robotics at MIT to work on a developing an electronic play set for young children. (Microdrone RC UAV from YouTube Video)

FMI: http://tacocopter.com/