Speaking to Sputnik on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday, Sberbank executive board deputy chairman Stanislav Kuznetsov revealed that the bank's robotics lab is working on a series of unmanned aerial vehicles to be used for deliveries to remote areas.
"At least five or even six kinds of drones [are] being researched, created, built and used in models," the official said.
According to Kuznetsov, its drone technology will enjoy strong demand in hard-to-reach areas of Russia, which require the delivery of documents, small items or cash. Fitted with a special container mounted on its undercarriage, the drone's valuable cargo will be protected by special dye packs, which render the cash useless if an attempt is made to steal it.
With a single 5,000 ruble note ($81.50) weighing about 1.02 grams, a 100 kg container would be able to accommodate about 98,000 notes, or 490 million rubles ($7.9 million) in cash.
Flight tests of the helicopter drone are expected to start in November or December of this year, with preliminary work set to wrap up by September or October.
