Internet Order Delivery Box

This is a concept developed for the Seed rethink the phone contest.

The idea is to use the readily available phone elements to produce a safe storage system for internet orders.

The box would contain the parts needed to connect to the web and to remotely operate a solenoid lock.

This is NOT just a box.

It is a cell phone with a storage facility.

At present the delivery people have to call and press the doorbell to hand over the package.

Sometimes having to find a neighbour that will take the package which can be extra time consuming.

With this system they press a cell bell that connects to the owner who then receives the parcel.

This can be faster and more efficient use of the delivery persons time and will benefit everyone.

In the future the mobile phone will be a part of many such devices.

Here is a selection from my note book in which I drafted the concept.

I also envisaged a simple letterbox be included to get small packets and regular mail. An internal baffle would prevent external removal.

This type of arrangement is one of the definite futures for mobile phones.

In other words we will start to use phones as separate entities that do a specific job.

In the future we may each have many cell phones doing specific jobs such as this delivery box, monitoring children, answering the door and for many security related uses.

I also envisage that the operators will recognise the need for multiple phone numbers and start to introduce special sim packages for multi-phone uses.

this could also be a good use for last years model cell phone thus saving on landfill and techno waste.

The box would be constructed of metal and have a sloping top to shed rain and birds.

The front would have a digital lock.

Inside would contain a Seeed phone kit that has the blue tooth or Wi-fi link to the owners network.

Alternatively it would house an Android standard phone to make use of the components to interface with the lock.

The lock would be linked via the internet using either BLE or Wi-fi depending on circumstances.

The battery would be internal and would also have a reserve back-up battery that could still release the door in the event of the main battery failure.

The top of the box would contain instructions for the delivery person.

When the delivery guy arrives he hits the button and that contacts the owner via SMS of even via a video link.

The hot button would connect the box to the owner who could either remotely release the door or give the access code to the delivery person.

The parcel is placed inside and the box then closed.

All is now secure and ready for the owner to open up and get the parcel upon his return.

The owner opens the box, and removes the package.

This could then have a re-settable code for the lock or if remote release is used, then the door is simply closed.

I see the major benefit being for the delivery of supermarket orders.

These could be left in the box at any time. That would allow the use of the cheapest or free off peak delivery times offered by supermarkets.

The box could also be used to leave a package for collection using the same methodology.

This way the owner would know when his package was collected.

Other uses might include leaving keys for trades people.

I hope that this brief but comprehensive presentation has sufficient information to clearly show the value of this concept.

I may add further illustrations later if they are desirable.

Thanks for looking.