Google and Amazon were quick to put drones to use delivering orders. 

 

谷歌和亚马逊已经开始用无人机送货，反应神速。

 

But new research suggests delivery is just one small way drones are going to replace humans. The tiny airborne vessels¹ will soon clean windows on skyscrapers², verify insurance claims and spray pesticide³ on crops. 

 

The global market for drones, valued at around $2 billion today, will replace up to $127 billion worth of business services and human labour over the next four years, according to a new research by consulting firm PwC. 

 

Drone technology could soon become part of our everyday lives, monitoring problems with crumbling⁴ infrastructure⁵ such as cracks in tarmac, bridges and houses and even repairing them as part of $45.2 billion of infrastructure work currently done by humans. 

 

Construction companies, amid other things, will be able to attach 3D printers to drones to produce on site-replacement parts for damaged elements of houses or roads. 

 

Drones will be able to perform most tasks at height, reducing the risk of death and injury and increasing efficiency. 

 

In transport, one of the most promising⁶ uses of drones is predicted to be food delivery. 

 

"Providing products such as frozen food, ready-to-eat dishes or even daily groceries from large chains may become be the next big thing in the food and restaurant industries," analysts⁷ at PwC said. 

 

In agriculture, drones will increasingly be used to gather and analyse data on crops quickly as well as to do precise spraying on plants.

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