Amid what can only be described as a Poop Show of political news in the United States, a new invention arises. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say, and we have nothing if not an overabundance of poop at the close of 2024. In response, an inventor from Minnesota has come up with something hilarious.
Well, not due to the crappy news right now, but at least it could be helpful for dealing with some of the poop in your daily life. And if not, it’s at least funny. May as well laugh right now!
Poopcopters Arrive at the Crappiest Moment
We have long been told that drones would replace the men in brown to carry packages right to our doorstep. But one man from Lino Lakes had another idea. What if there was a drone that could pick up packages left, not by you, but by your dog? As we know, there’s a ready supply of such packages, but who wants to deal with them?
Caleb Olson, a software engineer and dog dad, has invented what is tentatively named the Poopcopter. He told KARE 11 that he had identified dealing with dog waste as a “huge problem” and decided to try deploying drones to solve it for pet people everywhere.
Video by KARE 11 about the Poopcopter:
Where Does All the Poop Go?
After many iterations, trials, and errors, his prototype Poopcopter was able to carry away “brown parcels.” It takes a precision landing, made much more complicated if there is a strong wind. But that still leaves the question of where the drone will go after carrying the poop into the sky!
“Where do you take the poop aside from spinning [it] really fast and dropping it on your neighbor’s house?” Olson joked.
Alas, we can see that some folks might enjoy that thought a little too much.
Besides, in a few test flights, the mechanism that closes over the package has come loose, resulting in an accidental “Sky dump.”
So before Poopcopters launch into the sky, it’ll have to be worked out how to securely carry the cargo and where all that poo will go. According to the article, Olson envisions a subscription service, an app, and full automation. Possibly, the drones will be direct to consumer, which he says might be “more fun.”
Like a UFO That Abducts Poop
If the drones are deployed from the company “poop van,” it seems folks might not have the option to deploy their own Poopcopters against their neighbors, which really seems best, doesn’t it?
“It’s kind of like a UFO but it’s abducting dog poop instead of people,” he said at a product demonstration.
After machine learning helps the drone zero in with pinpoint (poo-point?) accuracy on where to land on the poop, maybe artificial intelligence could decide where to deliver all those packages? What better way to demonstrate the merits and potentially stinky pitfalls of AI? Hey, it seems a fitting way to usher in the predictably messy year 2025, doesn’t it?
Thus far, Poopcopter is only a tentative name, with others like the “DooDoo Drone,” “Feces Flinger 5000,” and the “Pooh Pilot.”
Olson’s corgi, Twinkie, was the inspiration for the Poopcopter. Before coming up with the drone concept, he worked out how to log Twinkie’s package distribution in his backyard using a security camera! There may also have been lasers involved. (see video below)
“Twinkie’s dinkies are all over the yard,” he said.
You can see more on Caleb’s website: calebolson.com.
See Olson demonstrate his invention below from Minnestar:
