Watch your step! You may find yourself stepping on one of these robots which are set to be your new delivery guys. These autonomous devices are set to hit the streets in the very near future. The robots are set to be introduced in Germany, the UK and in Switzerland. I personally cannot wait to see this concept coming to life; it’s a Sci-Fi film dream of every geek.
The robots may be taken to be the close variation of the delivery drones introduced by Amazon (Amazon Prime Air delivery drones). The driving principle is similar are so goal which is autonomy of delivering goods to customers.
The brains behind this genius invention are the Starship Technologies who are a tech company that are based in London. The creators of the invention hope that customers will in the near future be able to place orders for packages, groceries and even food son online platforms which can then be delivered by robots that are autonomously operating. The robots will be able to serve customers who are in a range of two to three miles in radius.
The autonomous robots will stroll up and down the streets of cities heading to their destination of delivery under the supervision of a human operator who will be located in a control center. The creators claim that the robots will be eco-friendly which is a relief and important in a time when technology is being blamed of causing global warming. This benefit to the environment does not come at a compromise for the service to the consumer as the robot is able to carry up to two full bags of groceries. And in case you are getting anxious about how much amount of money has been put to one of these robots, the manufacturers have strived as much as possible to keep the cost of each robot low by using components that can be easily obtained off the shelf. This is in a bid to keep the manufacturing cost as down as possible.
The creators hope that the robots will be able to deliver goods within 30 minutes from the time of order. The firm has gone to great extents to make the robots highly effective. They have extensively tested the smart devices and the creators claim to have driven the robots an excess of 5,000 miles and come across 400,000 people in the process. Some of the established companies in the countries that the robots are set to be launched have even booked for trials of the robots. Some of these companies include; just Eat which is an online takeaway service, Hermes from Germany and a German retailer by the name of Metro Group. In London, Pronto which is a food delivery startup leads in this.
Starship Technologies was launched by the co-founders of Skype i.e. Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla back in 2014. Their ultimate goal is that robot delivery will be a viable and sustainable alternative to the traditional human labor in form of handlers. As a kick start to the program, multiple robots will be launched in five cities to conduct tests on delivery and also to evaluate the response of the public to the robots.
The chief operating officer of the firm admitted that they are working with some of the most competent and committed partners in the field. He also stated that the partners are people who and self-driven and keen on emerging incredible technologies which is why they are confident on delivering a robotic solution that will be both effective and efficient. The CEO reiterated that despite the difficulties that they were continually facing during this process, their desire to achieve the goals and objectives which they set out at the start of the project were unfaltering.
Will Consumers Buy the Idea?
The answer to this question was answered by the CEO of Hermes Germany, Frank Rausch, who said that the consumers were continually getting tired of having to wait for long hours for a particular package. Bearing in mind that the rates that consumers have to pay for online shopping are on the rise, it is only fair for the delivery companies to address the delay in package deliveries and to seek to more efficient ways of making the orders both fast and convenient to the consumer. The companies should look at moving from the old and traditional style of package delivery as it has proved to be flawed and look at the inclusion of technology in the process. This will not only increase the speed of delivery but also the effectiveness as technology is not prone to some of the all familiar human errors.
In consequence, deliveries made by the use of robots will go a long way in filling a niche of deliveries which are individually scheduled for customers in short distances. This will be both beneficial for the customers due to increased efficiency and also less costly for the companies. The companies will be able to cut on employee wages but also to cut on cost that accrue on the delivery vehicles such as wear and tear and fuel costs.
Read also: New Version of The Humanoid Robot: Atlas Robot
Conclusion
The pilot of the program will be set off Dusseldorf, London, and Bern among other cities in Germany as well as cities across Europe after which the pilot will be launched in the United States. If this is not awesome, I don’t know what else is. We are at the blink of integrating robots in the society which is what this program will do by enabling robots to roam the streets looking for my address to deliver my lunch from the future.
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