Starship Technologies has announced a major commercial rollout of its self-driving delivery robots for corporate and academic campuses across the USA and Europe, with over 1,000 robots to deployed by the end of 2018.
The company said its initiative is the first large-scale deployment of autonomous delivery services, supporting campuses by implementing robots to assist in work and school environments. The robots offer on-demand delivery anywhere on participating campuses via an app, offering employees the flexibility and convenience of having food delivery when and where they want, eliminating unwanted errands and waiting in line, or transporting items to and from other locations on campus.
Starship robots can be easily deployed in specially-designed pods that can be stationed around campuses, providing automated battery-swapping as well as housing for the robots while off duty. The pods can be designed to fit in with the architecture of the campus or neighborhood they operate on, and come in various sizes to accommodate different numbers of robots.
As part of the new project, Starship partnered with Compass Group on the Intuit Mountain View campus in Silicon Valley, California, to provide accessible, convenient and sustainable deliveries to its employees. “And after a successful start to the year and great reception to our robots, we are planning to dramatically expand our services and distribute thousands of robots across campuses around the world by 2019,” Ahti Heinla, CEO Starship Technologies, said.
On Intuit’s Mountain View campus, workers can order food and drink via the Starship app for delivery throughout the day across the entire Intuit campus. On average, a Starship robot takes 17 minutes to deliver food, coffee or snacks on the campus.
Starship robots can deliver all kinds of items from food and office stationery to tools and spare parts in large Campus environments. To date, the most common Starship delivery item at Intuit has been breakfast sandwiches, giving employees access to a meal frequently skipped. “I normally miss breakfast because I’m in a rush on the way to work, but this service has allowed me to have breakfast again, by bringing it to me,” said Ha Ly, Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Intuit.
The campus launch is a major milestone in the growth of Starship Technologies, expanding on commercial delivery pilot programmes in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Estonia. Robots developed by Starship Technologies have now covered over 100,000 miles around the world in 20 countries and over 100 cities. Starship robots on campuses help increase efficiency and let employees make the most out of work environments that now often include recreational amenities to support and encourage a better work-life balance.
“The rollout of Starship’s campus offering represents a major milestone in the development of delivery robots,” Heinla concluded. “The announcement signals the next step in Starship’s journey. By providing campuses with our platform, we are leading the deployment of autonomous delivery at scale worldwide”.
In the UK, Starship has reportedly teamed up with the grocery chain Co-op now delivery orders to customers in Milton Keynes using the Starship robots. It follows the trial with Just Eat to deliver takeaways in South London.
Starship told Radio 4's You and Yours programme it can deliver 200 of the most common grocery items via robots in Milton Keynes.
Milton Keynes is already earmarked as one of the UK's testing grounds for driverless cars. "These campus environments are like robot playgrounds," Henry Harris-Burland, Starship's vice president of marketing, said.
However, technology analyst Dean Bubley told the BBC there were still challenges to be addressed. "Letting them loose alone on public streets will be very difficult because of the unpredictability of the general public," he said. "There will be questions about liability if there are accidents, security and even stray dogs, cats and pigeons could prove a problem."
In the medium term, the robots will be put to work in 20 university or work campuses across the UK, US and Germany, Starship was quoted as saying.
