The robotic race is on! Little by little human labor is now being replaced by convenient machines. Now, these so called robots have invaded the delivery business. Starship Technologies announced that they will be conducting a series of commercial trials in California and Washington DC.
Starship Technologies will be working with DoorDash in Redwood City, California and Postmates in Washington DC for the commercial trials of their ground-based delivery robots as reported by The Verge. Americans from the mentioned cities will soon be able to receive foods or goods delivered by six-wheeled semi-autonomous robot in the coming weeks within a four mile diameter in each city.
Customers of DoorDash and Postmates within the service area will have an option to select the adorable robots as their delivery option when they take the order in their respective apps. There will no additional fee for the robot deliveries and will be charged with the usual delivery fee. As soon as the delivery is placed, customers will receive a notification that their delivery is on its way.
This is not the first venture of Starship Technologies in ground -based robotic deliveries. They have already conducted successful trials in United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland with the cooperation of big name companies such as Just Eat, Hermes, Metro Group and Pronto.co.uk as reported in their official website, Starship.xyz. The robots have been a huge success driving 5,000 mile and interacting with 400,000 persons without a single accident.
The robots are capable of carrying up to 20 pounds of cargo and reaching to speed of up to 4 miles per hour. The robot can navigate independently while being monitored by human operators in control centers to make sure everything is good. They will typically stick to sidewalks and customers can track the delivery on the map. They will also receive notification if the delivery arrive which commonly takes between 15-30 minutes.
The delivery robot is also equipped with several safety features to protect the cargo from being swiped while travelling. A custom link will be sent to customers that will serve as the password for the cargo hatch to open. Other features include cameras, GPS tracking, built-in alarms and two way radios.
According to Henry Harris-Burland, Marketing and Communications Manager for Starship, the trips will not be fully autonomous yet. Though they have been mapping the cities for months, there are still streets and side-walks that need to be mapped. Harris-Burland explained that the commercial trials will employ a mix of semi -autonomy and human control with Starship employees behind the wheel of every robot if needed.
