Old and young, speakers of dozens of languages, of comfortable or modest means, they all looked out of their windows two evenings ago and saw what no New Yorker wants to see: hundreds of red-eyed delivery drones speeding straight at their building with no signs of slowing down. “I immediately knew it was a system malfunction,” recounts eighty-eight-year-old Elmira Ramirez, a resident of the supportive housing complex within the building. “They were flying like drunken insects, all erratic, and some of them were burning up—showers of sparks. It was terrifying.”
The next day saw dozens of Clear Skies Brigade protestors chanting outside the building, but their energy was somewhat hampered by the fact that no one was seriously injured in the mishap. This was true even though an entire block’s worth of drones, comprising more than six hundred, crashed into the building’s exterior. Residents were saved by the Stage of Life Building’s automatic drone nets, which prevent shattered glass from entering living spaces. In addition, most of the drones’ emergency parachutes deployed successfully, preventing injuries in the street below, although damage to vehicles is another matter.
“The real story isn’t the security tech, though we’re thankful it’s there,” says tenant president Ringo Zhang. “It’s how we pulled together. We have many elders among us, folks who offer lots of wisdom and experience to our community, and need lots of support. And then, we have kids just out of college living in the cubbies next door. Even though the drones mostly hit the youth areas, they ran straight to the supportive housing units to check if the residents were ok. Like they were one big family, checking on their grandparents. This is the essence of Stages of Life.”
"They were flying like drunken insects, all erratic, and some of them were burning up—showers of sparks. It was terrifying."
When we reached out to Sparrow, the company responsible for the delivery drones, we received the following generated response: “Safety is our top priority, and we take all drone malfunctions very seriously. Robot concierges are working overtime, rerouting deliveries. We are a diverse and resilient community, and we look forward to listening, pulling together, and growing from this challenge.”
Stages of Life was once a commercial building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, retrofitted for residential use. Rebuilt in response to the housing crisis, which peaked in the late 2020’s, it became a model for integrating different ages, economic backgrounds, and races through innovative design, such as dividing the building into sections with different scales of units, and employing technology to overcome challenges such as limited natural light. It includes supportive housing for non-ambulatory elderly folks, where robots provide much of the labor. Elders get their human contact hours from the younger roomers and low-income residents who work part-time for low or free rent. Many youth live in what is known as the “Kiddy Cubby” section—micro rooms with shared bathrooms and kitchens. About 80% of the drones crashed into this section.
"Even though the drones mostly hit the youth areas, they ran straight to the supportive housing units to check if the residents were ok. Like they were one big family, checking on their grandparents. This is the essence of Stages of Life."
“The city relies on drone deliveries for almost everything at this point,” says Mayor Jones, “but incidents like this showcase the need for much more robust safety measures when robots take to the skies. But I’m proud to see New Yorkers in action like we did Thursday night in the aftermath.”
"We got freakishly lucky this time. But it could have easily been another 13th street, and next time it will be."
“We got freakishly lucky this time,” says anti-drone activist Dee Kenrick. But it could have easily been another 13th street, and next time it will be.” Kenrick is referring to last fall’s cyberattack, in which delivery drones led to the death of more than fifty New Yorkers. An investigation has been opened into the cause of Thursday’s attack, with Sparrow’s AI ensuring us they are in full compliance with the investigation.