People are speeding up day by day. No one wants to waste their time. People have moved to make use of every second, and that is why they have revolutionised the automation industry. Therefore, the basis of the automation industry is AI. In this article, we will learn about AI-based delivery robots.
The time it takes a company to deliver an item completely determines the success of the business. This is how fast delivery services come into play. Food suppliers and grocery companies are doing everything they can to compete with the speed of delivery. There are several companies that use automated delivery robots.
These are the autonomous tech companies which are providing such services.
- Postmates
- Starship Technologies
- Ottonomy
- Kiwibot
Moreover, more than 100 companies are providing such delivery services.
#1. Postmates
Postmates is a food delivery service, which was founded in 2011 by Bastian Lehmann, Sam Street and Sean Plaice. It delivers prepared food to its customers.
Postmates Serve
Postmates Serve is an autonomous delivery rover which can deliver goods weighing up to 50 pounds or around 23 kilograms. This autonomous delivery robot uses LIDAR technology which creates a virtual image of the surrounding. This rover uses the passcode to open the lid to get your delivery.
What it does
It autonomously walks on the sideway of the street. You can get your parcel to your doorstep. The robust sensors capture everything. These sensors are like our eyes or better than our eyes which capture in real-time. Moreover, the creator of this robot says it is designed to increase the sale of retailers.
This robot is designed in such a way that it reaches the preselected area for delivery. It is on the list of the most advanced delivery robot. The touchscreen display is always ready to communicate with you. Thus, engineers designed it in such a way that can carry a heavy load and have enough space for your stuff.
The speed of the Postmates serve is around 6 km/h. Normal human beings have a speed of 6 km/h.
Timeline of Postmates
#2. Starship Technologies
Starship Technologies is also a food delivery company which uses robots. This is an Estonia-based company which are centred to make such robots which can deliver groceries, food, and spare parts. Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla founded this company on June 11, 2014.
Starship Delivery Robot
Do you have any kind of parcel? Then this autonomous robot can deliver your parcel, food or almost everything from your office or restaurant. In terms of versatility, these robots can be much more trustworthy than others. In terms of safety, the engineers have designed it so well that it can easily transport your chemical samples from one place to another.
This autonomous robot is like a masterpiece which can automatically sense the curbs and intersections. Sometimes these robots face problems while travelling along the pathway, then they can be controlled by humans. However, safety is a key feature any autonomous vehicle should have like Amazon’s autonomous taxi “Zoox” has. So, this delivery robot has stereo and TOF cameras, distance sensors and an alarm system. The radar system enables a high alert system.
The LED lights made it easy to deliver the parcel even in low light conditions. It also has a screen-touch panel which is used to unlock the lid. So, you have to put your passcode to unlock it simply. The insulated compartment made it unique for your hot and fresh meal.
Many experts are worried about the jobs which are going to replace by such robots. In a recent, PC Magazine published a report on “Will Your Delivery Guy Be Replaced by a Starship Robot?”. Many such news agencies are raising their voices against such startups. But, as a matter of fact, these startups are going to be the future.
Specification
| Dimension | 70cm (L) x 57cm (W) x 57cm (H) |
| Speed | 6km/h (Maximum Speed) |
| Inner Dimension | 70cm (L) x 32cm (W) x 34cm (H) |
| Robot Weight | 35 kg |
| Max Load | 10 kg |
| Total Operating Time | 12 hours on a full charge (1260 Wh Battery) |
Timeline of Starship
#3. Ottonomy.IO
Ottonomy.io was registered back in 2020. The company was founded by Ritukar Vijay, Pradyot Korupolu, Ashish Gupta and Hardik Sharma. This company is also the same as other two like Postmates and Starship Technology. Like all others, this company also uses the mapping system to deliver groceries and food to their customers. After the high demand for such service, these Indian boys started this startup.
This startup is US based and has its headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The company also have its other two offices in India and Germany. So, the main market of Ottonomy.IO is North America and provides services to big retail companies.
Like other delivery robots, it also uses authentication. The Ottonomy.IO uses QR Code to open the lid to grab the parcel. The company works on RaaS (Robotics as a Service) to help retailers to deliver to their customers. Therefore, the company focuses on convincing retail shopkeepers not to rely on third-party services.
Specification
Looking into its specification, it works on LiDAR sensors system which operates in 3D. There are many cameras which continuously keep an eye on the surrounding. As a result, these cameras provide the best 3D model of the path it covers. The robot also has ultrasonic sensors which detect the real scenario of the weather condition, humidity, and the quality of the path it travels.
The navigation system uses a contextual navigation engine that enables the rover to navigate in crowded areas. Moreover, this robot has four (some have six) wheels on which it rove.
Kiwibot
Kiwibot is a delivery robot designed by the Kiwi Campus Company of Colombia. This company started their food and grocery delivery in California, United States. The company initially started their delivery journey mainly in the Universities of California.
Timeline of Kiwibot
In the initial phase, Kiwi Campus was a courier delivery service started by the Entrepreneur Felipe Chávez Cortés of Colombia in 2015. Lately, he with his COO Sergio Pachon and CTO Jason Oviedo founded the current company, Kiwi Campus.
In 2017, the project was launched at the University of Berkeley. Lately, more the 20 robots were giving service around this area. Their service expanded in the next year when they decided to start their delivery service on Stanford University Campus. In 2019 they shared the data of total orders received which is more than 10000 orders to date.
Due to some malfunction in the delivery robot, it caught fire during the delivery service. For instance, the company shut down the delivery service through robots and started a manual delivery service.
In Aug 2019, a pilot program was started in some other parts of the United States. The company also focuses to start their service in San Jose, California in July 2020.
These delivery robots mainly depend on AI, Machine learning and Deep learning. So, In the starting days of Kiwibot, uses Machine learning and the AI of the iPhone to run their robots. in place of a camera and sensors, they used an iPhone camera.
These are the four most advanced AI-Based Autonomous Delivery Robots available in the market. As the expert says, in the upcoming future these robots are going to replace delivery boys.
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