The cost of use will be pennies

"The cost of use will be pennies on the dollar compared to today's delivery systems," Mr. Templeton said. This, he added, could very quickly eat into the business of many delivery companies."None of the horse and carriage companies of the past ended up becoming automobile companies today," said Mr. Templeton, who is also a consultant on the Google team designing a driverless car.The roadblocks, real and potential, are significant. Safety is one worry. Another is current technology. Drones like the ones showcased by Amazon are electric and are estimated to be able to carry only small packages weighing less than five pounds. That means they would not work for most online purchases.

Hal Bennett, a drone researcher, has a possible answer for that. He wants to build drones powered by tiny jet engines rather than electric ones. He says they could carry 50- and 100-pound packages 45,000 feet up at 250 miles an hour. While his drones are still in a research phase, and very much under wraps, Mr. Bennett said the possibilities were endless."Imagine you're climbing around in Yosemite and you decided you want a Burger King hamburger. You just order it on your GPS," Mr. Bennett said.Many people probably don't want to imagine that. Drones over El Capitan? Delivering, of all things, fast food?Then again, American pizzerias really began routine deliveries only in the 1950s, reflecting the rise of another bit of technology: the automobile.

Then, in the '60s, a man who started out with one pizzeria in Ypsilanti, Mich., came along and made quick delivery a priority. His name was Thomas Monaghan. The company: Domino's.Say hello to Yana and Bo, two robots who want to teach your five-year-old to write code. The newly crowdfunded Play-i system uses music, animation, and stories to teach kids ages 5 to 12+ to program their new robot friends--and have fun in the process. The learning and storytelling platform combines bots designed for interactive play with a visual programming interface that can be accessed on a phone or tablet. It's so simple, it doesn't even require reading or writing skills. With a few intuitive commands, inquisitive kids can control Yana and Bo's motion, regulate their sounds and lights, and even make them interact with the world around them. The pair--whose names are derived from "Robot" and "You Are Not Alone"--even detect each other, playing games like hide-and-seek on command.