Ahti Heinla of Starship Technologies presents a wheeled delivery robot at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) conference in Munich,Jan, 18 2016.(Photo: Tobias Hase, epa)
"Ground drone" delivery robots that could easily be mistaken for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>toilet bowls on wheels are about to start rolling through<span style="color: Red;">*</span>London.
Starship Technologies CEO Ahti Heinla says the company's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fleet of "small, safe, practical, free from CO2 emissions, and best of all, earthbound" robots can deliver packages and groceries at a fraction of the cost of vehicles that require drivers.
“Our vision revolves around three zeroes — zero cost, zero waiting time and zero environmental impact," Heinla said. "We want to do to local deliveries what Skype did to telecommunications.”
Heinla should know<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— he and Starship business partner Janis Friis are among the small group of techies and entrepreneurs who founded<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Skype more than a decade ago.
The ground drones are capable of carrying the equivalent of two grocery bags, and customers set the time for the delivery. They travel at a speed of about 4 miles an hour, the equivalent of a brisk walk or slow jog.
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Starship is thinking bigger than just grocery delivery.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The company says the drones can cut costs for what it calls the "largest inefficiency in the delivery chain, the last mile." Retailers can ship the goods in bulk to a local hub, then the robot fleet completes the delivery to the shopper’s door for a fraction of the cost of truck or even moped deliveries, the company says.
Curious shoppers will want to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>track the robot’s location in real time, of course. There's an app for that. And only the app holder can<span style="color: Red;">*</span>unlock the cargo.
Lest there be concerns that the robots should be victimized by a thief or otherwise encounter trouble,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>they are equipped with cameras and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are overseen by human operators who call police or provide other assistance.
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>delivery bots, after thousands of hours of testing, will debut in the Greenwich district next month. Starship adviser<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Keith Cornell told the newspaper that trials could soon begin in 14 cities if local politicos sign off on the plan.
"Our robots are purposely designed using the technologies made affordable by mobile phones and tablets," Heinla says. "It’s fit for purpose, and allows for the cost savings to be passed on to the customer.”
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