Drones Revolutionise Middle East's Warehouses and Last-Mile Deliveries

Drones are set to totally transform the Middle East’s warehousing and logistics sectors with operations in Oman imminent, according to a speaker at Hypermotion Dubai’s Scalex (Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence) conference at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

Speaking ahead of the conference, which takes place from 2-4 November, Moosa Karim Albalushi, MENA director of US-based UVL Robotics plans to demonstrate how the region’s last mile delivery will soon be ‘people-less’ and climate-proof.

“Drones are designed for the most extreme temperatures and can deliver a package several times faster than a normal courier, thereby reducing the cost and delivery time,” said Albalushi.

UVL Robotics’ drones also include inventory technology which can deliver accurate, fast, and secure stock counts.

Albalushi explains: “Our drones can fly autonomously inside a warehouse and are equipped with high-precision scanners, optical rangefinders, and HD cameras.

“The data that the drone scans and processes during the flight is automatically uploaded to the ground station and then integrated through special software with the warehouse’s WMS system.

"The client can monitor the inventory progress on monitors in real time, as well as evaluate the integrity of pallets from drone photos.”

The UVL Robotics Scalex presentation comes as the company becomes the first to set up a fully autonomous last-mile delivery drone system in Oman and confirms that it has completed inventory pilot testing with some of the region’s biggest players.

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Albalushi adds: “We are the first company in the world to offer a full range of drone inventory services in the B2B segment.

“40,000 pallets – the volume of a large customer’s warehouse, was calculated by 10 drones in a few hours.

“Using the classic method, it would take 10 times longer. With the help of RFID technology, full autonomy of inventory of large storage areas is ensured in all weather conditions.

"We have an agreement with the government in Muscat to start in Q4 to operate daily drone deliveries with UVL station to areas which are hard to reach.”

Albalushi confirmed drone delivery systems are being investigated by numerous Arab nations looking for autonomous cold chain shipment deliveries using drones for biological samples, diagnostic materials, urgent medical materials, biopharmaceuticals, and temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals including Covid-19 vaccines.

The Scalex conference – one of a trio scheduled for the transformational Hypermotion Dubai event – is drawing together global disruptors who are re-envisioning how we will all travel and move goods and services in the near future.

Tearing down boundaries between logistics, mobility, infrastructure, and transport, they are looking to replace them with networked, integrated, and inter-modal systems.

“With over 150 senior executives speaking at the Hypermotion Dubai conferences next week, these content streams are some of the region’s most vital mobility and logistic platforms to understand the disruptive innovation which is massively impacting the industry across all disciplines,” explained Josue Paulos, Show Director at Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the organiser of Hypermotion Dubai.

Hypermotion Dubai is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman & CEO of Emirates Group and Chairman Dubai Airports.

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