SkyCatcher, the Smart Mailbox of the Future

Due to a rise in smart buildings, our corporate sponsor InnoSpring, a startup incubator, asked our team to design a mixed-use Smart Building to be constructed in urban Nantong, China. In collaboration with teams from Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, as well as Nantong University in Nantong, China we have explored a variety of Smart Building designs. After exploring multiple problem spaces, including air quality and prefabricated construction, our needfinding efforts pointed to package delivery in high-rise apartment complexes as a source of inefficiency and frustration for both couriers and residents. While drone delivery can solve part of the issue, it does not address the need for highrise apartment residents to receive packages at their doors. From our observations and interviews, we identified user needs that we want our design to address. For the resident the requirements are to receive packages quickly and securely, have packages delivered to their door, and receive packages without necessarily meeting the courier in person.

Our solution is SkyCatcher. SkyCatcher is an integrated smart mailbox system that would be included in the construction of new buildings in China. SkyCatcher allows drones to deliver packages on the exterior of high-rise buildings, and allows the user to easily collect the packages from the apartment interior . The system enables packages to be securely and efficiently delivered, directly to the resident’s apartment, at any time. SkyCatcher is supported by a web-app that syncs with your mailbox and informs you about expected deliveries to the SkyCatcher.