Campuses in major technology companies have canteens. In some of these cafeterias employees can eat for free. This is justified by the fact that the less employees will spend time on the road and lunch, the sooner they get back to work. In addition, in the canteens of companies, employees can discuss projects. For those who holds meetings in the open air or works in a small office without a dining room, in Silicon valley appeared six point robots delivering food.
Product London company Starship Technologies went to the streets of mountain view. By the end of 2018, the company plans to produce 1000 robots-couriers who will pick up the food in the restaurants and deliver it to the customer.
Initially, Much of Heinle and Janus Friis, founders of Skype Technologies Starship and worked on the robot which could collect samples of rocks from the surface of Mars and the moon. Probably for this reason, their robot delivery guy resembles a cross between a slow cooker and Rover. Developed technology was the basis of the drone deliveryman. This idea is in 2016 drew $ 17 million from investors. The main investor is the company Daimler.
In March 2017 the robot from Starship Technologies made its first trip, and now such robots can be seen on the streets of mountain view. Colleagues from Business Insider has been tracking the delivery process from beginning to end, so we can get acquainted with robots-couriers closer.
The robot moves on the sidewalk with a speed of 6 kilometers per hour. It is equipped with nine cameras and ultrasonic sensors. All this allows him to understand what’s going on and to make quick decisions, it is worth it to avoid the obstacle or to stop in front of a man.
Intersections the robot moves according to the rules. He is able to distinguish traffic signals. If the robot is approaching an unregulated intersection where he can’t be sure safe crossing, he contacts the Manager in the office Starhip Technologies. The robot will also send a signal to the office, if anyone wants to kidnap him.
By the way, the whole time travel compartment for food remains closed. It is only open to employees of the restaurant, which loads the order, and the customer. It seems that the robot delivers impeccable. I want to see these on the streets of Russian cities. I hope that they will not have any problems with our pavements.
Robots, like a cross between a slow cooker and the Rover began food delivery
Ernest Vasilevskiy