This week US supermarket chain Kroger started to test drone delivery from its Centerville, Ohio store. If all goes to plan, customer deliveries will begin later this spring, and a second test pilot will start at a Ralphs store in California. The drones, which are provided and manned by Drone Express, can carry packages weighing up to 5lb (2.2 kg) and Kroger is creating special product bundles that can be drone delivered such as baby care bundles. Kroger says deliveries could be as quick as 15 minutes, and an order doesn't even have to be made to a particular address, but to any set of GPS coordinates in the delivery zone, meaning that you could use the service while on the go.

But Kroger isn't the only business taking its business to the skies, especially as the coronavirus pandemic has made social distancing a priority. In fact, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used for everything from spraying disinfectant in cities to delivering essential items and enforcing lockdown rules during the coronavirus crisis. But drones had a whole host of surprising uses before the pandemic too – click or scroll through to see the amazing jobs drones are doing all around the world.

Israeli start-up Flytrex partnered with Grand Forks-based company EASE Drones to use drones to deliver essentials to vulnerable people in the North Dakota region during the pandemic. The initiative allows shoppers to select from more than 100 Walmart items to be delivered to their front door or garden, in order to minimise contact and lower the risk of infection. 

In Merida, Mexico, drone company Prospective Vision used UAVs to spray disinfectant over public places, including the San Benito market in the historic city centre (pictured). The company partnered with the city council to arrange for a sodium chlorite disinfectant to be sprayed over the city's public spaces to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, making it one of the first regions of Mexico to pursue these kinds of safety procedures.

In June last year the Queensland Government released drone footage of 64,000 sea turtles nesting at the protected area of Raine Island, on the edge of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. This is believed to be the largest sea turtle aggregation ever caught on camera. 

Could this be the future of watching live sport? On 23 May 2020, drones were used to record this tennis match between Danielle Collins (pictured) and Alison Riske as part of a mini-tournament in Florida, in a bid to bring back live sport as lockdown restrictions began to ease. The footage was broadcast live on Tennis Channel International and streamed on Facebook and Twitter. 

In the UK, drone footage was used by the police to call out rule-breakers during the nation's lockdown, with this video captured by Derbyshire Police pointing out non-essential exercise in the Peak District National Park. During the strictest lockdown period, UK citizens could only exercise once a day near their homes and were not allowed to drive to beauty spots; public information campaigns like this played a key part in ensuring public compliance.

In 2019, car manufacturer SEAT partnered with logistics company Grupo Sesé to deliver car parts to factories via drone across Spain. Steering wheels and airbags are now being sent in by UAV to the company's Martorell factory near Barcelona, cutting delivery times down to just 15 minutes – much faster than the usual 90 minutes it would take for a truck to deliver the parts. 

Ever wondered how those sweeping panoramas that you see on the news are captured? Chances are it's by drones. The BBC is one of the few journalistic organisations with its own in-house team of drones, known as hexacopters, which are able to capture exclusive footage and deliver unique angles that could not be achieved with helicopters. The BBC have been using the drones since 2013, when it used one to capture images of the HS2 megaproject.

From technical delays to COVID-19, will these megaprojects ever be ready?

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, runs a drone delivery company called Wing, which allows people to order goods from local businesses and have them dropped off at their door. Wing received approval for commercial journeys in the US in early 2019, and the company currently operates in four cities across the world: Christiansburg, VA in the United States; Helsinki in Finland; and Canberra and Logan, Queensland in Australia. Last summer Wing delivered library books to school children in Christianburg in a bid to help them with summer reading lists, and recently it's been helping out the Girl Scouts in the area too...

COVID-19 has made selling cookies a challenge for America's Girl Scouts. In March 2020 the national organisation suspended the selling of cookies door-to-door, and even now restrictions are starting to be relaxed sales have been down 50% as selling from stalls outside grocery stores remains difficult. But Wing came to the rescue of the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline by giving them access to its drones, which have been dropping off cookies to people who have bought them online. Lia Reich, Wing global communications lead, told USA Today that Wing had committed to dropping off 3,000 boxes of cookies, but this could increase if necessary. The Girl Scouts don't get to fy the drones themselves but prepare the cookies for flight and have been learning about the technology. Cookie deliveries in Virginia are available through the Wing website or app until the end of May. Wing also delivers for Brugh Coffee, Mockingbird Cafe and Mexican restaurant Gran Modeo, as well as FedEx, in the Christiansburg area.

Package delivery company UPS is using drone delivery to get parcels to customers in remote parts of the US at faster speeds. In March 2020, it was announced that the firm would be partnering with German start-up Wingcopter to develop a new type of delivery drone, which would help UPS improve its delivery offering in America and globally. 

It might sound a bit pie in the sky, and that's because, well, it is. In February 2020 several food companies paired up with drone firm Manna.aero to trial drone delivery. The trial took place at University College Dublin, and students were able to order drone deliveries from Just Eat, Ben & Jerry’s and local food brand Camile Thai, with delivery times at just three minutes. 

On 4 December 2019, X-wing fighter drones were used at Walt Disney World, Florida as part of the opening ceremony for the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance attraction opening at Galaxy's Edge. Previously, the resort had put on a drone light show in winter 2016, which featured 300 UAVs flying over the resort.

Uber plans to incorporate drones into its food delivery service this year, with test flights having taken place in San Diego, California in summer 2019. The company is taking it a step further, though, with its bold plans to move its taxi service to the skies. It started start test flights in Melbourne, Australia in 2020, with the aim of launching commercial drone taxi services by 2023. The company is working with NASA and the US Army on the venture, as well as aircraft manufacturers Embraer and Pipistrel Aircraft.

In the past few years, Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali has fallen victim to widespread terror attacks. In November 2019 mini drones were used by the French army to investigate terrorism and seek out jihadist groups in the countries. The Bourgou IV operation, as it was called, involved 1,400 soldiers, with the intention of restoring authority in a remote area that had not been controlled by armed forces for more than a year. 

In Malawi, UNICEF has been using drones to take photographs from above, which can then be used to create maps to record cholera hotspots. The maps allow researchers to link the disease with possible causes of infection, including population density, water sources and waste management, so that changes can be made to ensure communities are kept safe.

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Multinational infrastructure group Balfour Beatty is using drones to carry out inspections of infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads and railways. The UK-based company is fitting out each drone with high-quality equipment which is used to review the state of projects in detail, helping to reduce the likelihood of accidents and give an overview of how a project is doing.

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