For the past few months, the highest-capped ACT Brumbies player Ben Alexander has been involved in a different kind of test than the one on the field.
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The Brumbies prop has been taking part in the trial of food delivery by drones to homes in Royalla, conducted by Google sister company Project Wing.
Mr Alexander said he's been involved with more than 30 deliveries during the past few months.
"It's been mostly Mexican food and pharmacy supplies from Chemist Warehouse," he said.
"We had the deliveries about every week or so until [Project Wing] finished up delivering in Royalla."
The trial in the suburb south of Canberra started in September 2017 and wrapped up earlier this year, as the company expands into the ACT.
Project Wing is now conducting drone-delivery trials in Bonython and it is expected to expand into surrounding Tuggeranong suburbs in the future.
While some Bonython residents have raised concerns over the expansion of the trial, a spokeswoman for Project Wing said results from testing at Royalla would be used to fine-tune drone deliveries in Tuggeranong.
"For the past few months, we've completed close to 1000 drone deliveries with nearly 100 households in Royalla," the spokeswoman said.
"The vast majority of the feedback we've received from residents living in our previous test suburb of Royalla has been positive."
A survey of residents by the company at the end of the trial found 95 per cent of respondents said the experience was positive, and Mr Alexander was among them.
"In all the deliveries we had, we never had any issues around safety, and if the weather was a bit iffy they cancelled flights," he said.
"The first time the animals heard [the noise of the drones] they wondered what was going on, but afterwards their reaction was the same as if a car was driving past."
The Brumbies player said he would like to see the drone deliveries expanded further into Canberra.
"I would love to see it delivered [to my home in] Deakin, but that depends on people's acceptance of it," he said.
"There's so much potential for it, and not just for food deliveries."
The Project Wing spokeswoman said the expansion into Bonython was to "get a better understanding" of the areas the company was testing in.
A small number of homes in the Tuggeranong suburbs will be involved in the drone delivery tests with Project Wing working with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority on expanding to nearby areas.
