Send In the Delivery Robots

In the not-so-distant future, Canadians will share their sidewalks with little computerized couriers. It’s not as dystopian as it sounds. By Sharif Virani

- By Sharif Virani

GROWING UP, I ALWAYS wanted to find a way to give back to Canada’s small-business community. My dad came here from Uganda as a refugee in the '70s and, if not for the owner of a small Ottawa department store who gave him a job, he might never have gone on to post-secondary studies. After earning my own degree in environmental science from the University of Ottawa in 2008, I worked in STEM and later in digital marketing, with the goal of connecting businesses with sustainable technologies to help them grow.

Before the pandemic, I consulted on the launches of Uber Eats and DoorDash in Ottawa. I realized that much smaller businesses—not just restaurants—would need lower-cost delivery options for customers if they were going to survive rising rents and dwindling foot traffic. In 2023, I joined Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based startup with a brilliant solution: couriering orders via a fleet of AI-powered robots.

Automated delivery isn’t a cute gimmick. It can have a tangible economic impact at a time when small-business owners sorely need it. Since COVID, they have been routinely outcompeted by global brands like Amazon, whose massive delivery networks can provide same-or next-day shipping for cheap. Right now, there’s a huge desire to buy Canadian, but it’s hard for customers to act on it when shopping local can be more time-consuming and, sometimes, more expensive than simply ordering online from a multinational corporation. Real Life Robotics's model helps entrepreneurs—like community hardware-store owners, specialty grocers and florists—into the ring by giving them access to the robots and remote support they need to provide local customers with an affordable and environmentally friendly delivery option.