• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 9, 2019

Walmart is looking at the idea of how a package actually gets delivered to a location by drone.

The retail giant just filed a patent application for a system for retrieving a package delivered by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or drone.

The system involves “a receiving structure mounted to and extending from a wall of a building, the receiving structure being configured to receive the package delivered by the UAV,” states the filing.

The structure would include a trap door configured to open and close an opening leading to a transport system.

The receiving structure could be on a house, a residential building, an office building or a factory building, according to Walmart.

The drone would land on the platform and drop off a package.

The trap door then would open, and the package would be released to a transport system, such as a chute or slide system, a conveyor, an elevator or an automated guided vehicle, and the package would be delivered to the recipient inside the building.

UPS recently received FAA approval to operate an entire drone airline.

Now Walmart is considering the details of how an actual delivery would occur.