Delivery Bot At Your Doorstep

Autonomous last-mile delivery might seem unnecessary in countries like India where labour is available in plenty. However, the pandemic showed us the need for safe, contactless delivery options.

- Janani G. Vikram

Walk into the Purdue W University campus in the US and you will be surprised to find cute little robots moving silently and safely along the sidewalks, crossing cautiously at road junctions, to deliver parcels, groceries, and food to students and staff. They deliver at university buildings, dormitories, meetup spots, and even playgrounds, ensuring that students get food when and where they want it.

You will even find groups of robots huddled outside eateries waiting to pick up their next order, just like the Swiggy and Zomato delivery folks we see here. They operate as a mesh, and any bot can deliver from any store to any individual who orders through the app. Users can track the movement of the bot assigned to their order. The robots are fully autonomous, with monitoring technology in place, and can carry payloads up to 9kg and travel up to 6.4km per hour.

Starship Technologies operates delivery robots in more than 20 universities across the US. When they recently surveyed around 7,000 college students from across these campuses, 60% said they could study more because the robots delivered when and where they needed them, 30% said they felt safer on campus because of the contactless delivery offered by the robots, and nearly two-thirds said they didn’t skip meals because the robots helped them skip the queues!