Jeff Bezos likes to surprise. Roaming Amazon's global headquarters in 2013, the tycoon promised a television crew half his fortune if they could guess his company's latest innovation. "Oh my God," one of his wide-eyed guests exclaimed, as they caught sight of autonomous delivery drones. Bezos, a self-declared optimist, suggested it could happen by 2017, or maybe 2018. "I know this looks like science fiction. It's not," he told 60 Minutes on CBS in 2013.

In mid-July, a UPS subsidiary called Flight Forward and the drone company Matternet started a project with the Wake Forest Baptist Health system in North Carolina. The companies' aims are decidedly futuristic: to ferry specialty medicines and protective equipment between two of the system's facilities, less than a half-mile apart. Think of it: little flying machines, zipping about at speeds up to 43 mph, bearing the goods to heal. At this point, though, the drone operations are a little, well, human. The quadcopters must be operated by specialized drone pilots, who must pass a challenging aeronautical knowledge test to get their licenses.

It feels like drones were built for this moment. The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to spend the majority of their time indoors and, where possible, maintain a healthy distance from anyone that doesn't live in the same building. Companies have introduced numerous measures to minimize the threat and spread of infection. Countless stores have acrylic screens, for instance, and many delivery drivers leave orders at your doorstep. But a robot -- or specifically, a drone -- offers a potentially safer and quicker method of exchanging goods and services. It's no wonder, then, that so many commercial UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) operators are flourishing at the moment. In a time of crisis, they're keen to step forward and showcase the impact that drone deliveries can have on society.

UPS has become the first drone delivery service to receive full approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The company's program, called Flight Forward, is operated in partnership with Matternet, which provides drone logistics networking company in Mountain View, California. Previously, UPS's pilots were only allowed to fly the drones within line of sight, but the FAA approval means they'll be able to significantly expand their delivery range. 'This is history in the making, and we aren't done yet,' said David Abney, UPS chief executive officer in a statement. UPS's Flight Forward drone delivery program is the first to earn full approval by the FAA (pictured one of the drones they will use in the program) The program's currently deployed in Raleigh, North Carolina, where UPS's drones have made more than 1,000 flights carrying deliveries around the WakeMed Health & Hospitals campus.

If you're inclined to puns, you might say medical samples are the lifeblood of hospital systems. But if you actually work with them, you know they're more of a headache. Because the same road traffic that keeps you from getting home keeps the couriers charged with moving these tissue and blood samples, collected by the millions daily and often in urgent need of analysis, from completing their missions. So it makes a lot of sense that when the FAA decided to sanction the first revenue-generating drone delivery scheme in the US, it went with one that promises to speed up that process, run by UPS and autonomous drone technology firm Matternet. It makes sense from the tech perspective, too: The cargo is extremely lightweight and compact, allowing the companies involved to focus on the delivery processes and mechanisms rather than trying to manage unwieldy payloads.

UPS is teaming up with autonomous delivery drone startup Matternet to experiment with using drones to deliver medical supplies, the companies announced on Tuesday. Starting today, the supplies will be delivered via Matternet's M2 quadcopters to WakeMed hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. The drone delivery program will be overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation. It will be small at first: Matternet's drones can only carry payloads of up to five pounds over distances of up to 12.5 miles. Here's how the companies describe the delivery program: Throughout the WakeMed program, a medical professional will load a secure drone container with a medical sample or specimen – such as a blood sample – at one of WakeMed's nearby facilities.

ONCE THOUGHT OF AS A NICHE TOY for early adopters, drones can now be found buzzing over parks, in select cities, and are even being increasingly used for video production as the popularity of aerial photography soars. However, drones aren't only for fun and entertainment, and the high-pitched hum of their spinning propellers could replace the wail of ambulance sirens for global citizens as drones are put to work for humanitarian purposes. In March of 2017, DJI, the manufacturers of the most popular commercial drones, published a report about drones' life-saving capabilities, citing cases in which drones manned by volunteers or bystanders were used in emergency situations like floods and avalanches, resulting in 59 life-saving rescues in China, Canada, the U.S., and Turkey. Given that it takes 25 people 35 hours to search one square mile for missing persons, compared to the 30 minutes it takes a drone to cover the same area, regardless of treacherous conditions on the ground, drones are uniquely suited for search and rescue, even when piloted by hobbyists. Based on the increasing trend of drone use in the last 10 months covered by the report, DJI estimated that drones would be directly responsible for saving at least one person per week in the future.

The autonomous drone logistics platform Matternet has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Boeing Horizon X Ventures, with investments by Swiss Post, Sony Innovation Fund and Levitate Capital. The funding is a vote of confidence in what many already believe will be a standard feature of our lives in the near future. Matternet has launched drone deliveries in the healthcare sector, with a successful program in Lugano, Switzerland, in partnership with Swiss Post and Mercedes-Benz Vans. It has conducted more than 1,700 flights for the Ticino EOC Hospital Group and delivered over 850 patient samples over densely populated areas without incident. This month, Matternet and Swiss Post expanded the operation to test new hospital-to-hospital networks in Bern and Zurich.

The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. One shred of solace that surfaced as hurricanes and tropical storms pummeled Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico last fall was the opportunity to see drones realize some of their life-saving potential. During those disasters unmanned aircraft surveyed wrecked roads, bridges and rail lines. They spotted oil and gas leaks.

This week, the connected world brings artificial intelligence and augmented reality to medicine, robots have a go at music making and Matternet's autonomous drones ditch their human minders and successfully refuel themselves. Autonomous drone delivery service Matternet has developed an automated base station where drones can refuel and swap payloads by themselves. There's no human involvement at all – instead, packages ready for pick-up carry a QR code detailing their destinations, and are collected from a drawer on the Matternet Station by the drones. The startup has been transporting blood and pathology samples to labs in an effort to start commercializing its technology. Computer-assisted surgery has a new player in town: an augmented reality headset specifically designed for surgeons performing spinal surgery.