delivery robots

FedEx's delivery robot only made a short trip as part of a promotion, but when New York City officials learned about the outing, they sent the machine packing. A cease-and-desist letter sent to the shipping giant warned of dire consequences if it rolled the robot onto the city’s streets again without prior permission.

Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana is the latest college campus to welcome meal-delivery robots. Students and staff who don’t want to traipse across campus to grab lunch can now use an app to have it brought to them, though the service costs customers $2 a time to use.

More and more companies are developing autonomous wheel-based robots in an effort to expand their last-mile delivery operations. Amazon and Postmates are two such players aiming to get the most out of the technology, with both companies moving forward with trial deliveries using the machines.

Tootling into view is yet another wheel-based delivery robot, this one from U.S. startup Refraction A.I. The autonomous Rev-1 robot is designed for last-mile deliveries, has enough space for around five grocery bags, and is said to be faster and cheaper than many of its rivals.

Pizza delivery using driverless pods is about to become a thing. Domino's has partnered with autonomous-tech specialist Nuro to use the futuristic pods for a trial delivery service starting later this year. Customers place their order on an app and then tap in a code to grab the pizza from the pod when it arrives.

Autonomous wheeled delivery robots are seemingly everywhere in 2019. Oregon-based startup Agility Robotics has a different idea, however. Its cutting edge Digit robot carries out deliveries while walking on two legs. Here's why Agility thinks that's a necessary innovation.

Excited about the impending delivery robot revolution? If so, you need to know about Starship Technologies, the company which kickstarted the whole thing. Founded by two of the original creators of Skype, Starship is poised to change the world of deliveries. Here's what you need to know.

Think that robots bussing tables, tossing salads and baking bread is a futuristic concept? It's actually not as far away as you might think. Robots took center stage at a food robotics summit in San Francisco this week, where they showed they could handle all kinds of tasks in the food business.

Courier delivery service FedEx has announced its entry into the fast-growing field of delivery robots with the SameDay Bot. The company's delivery bots are capable of roaming the streets autonomously, and can even hop curbs and climb stairs to deliver packages to your front door.

Amazon has announced the launch of a new delivery robot service called Amazon Scout. To start with, a fleet of six of these robots will be deployed on a trial basis in a neighborhood in Snohomish County, Washington. Should all go well, other locations will presumably follow suit before too long.

The world’s largest fleet of delivery robots on a university campus is coming to Virginia’s George Mason University. Starting today, Mason’s 40,000 students, faculty, and staff can get everything from pizza to Starbucks coffee delivered directly to them by one of 25 robots.

As we all order more and more stuff from Amazon and other online retailers, delivery of goods becomes a more pressing concern. A solution is being proposed by Continental at this year's CES 2019, where the company will be exhibiting its system of driverless vehicles and delivery robots.

PepsiCo's fleet of autonomous Hello Goodness delivery snackbots just rolled out at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. The roaming vending machines let students order their snacks using a mobile app, and will then deliver them directly to their hands.

A small meal-delivery robot suddenly caught fire in Berkeley, California, on Friday. The robot's maker, Kiwi, said the incident was caused by a faulty battery. The blaze was quickly extinguished and no one was hurt, but the episode is still a troubling one for the fledgling robot delivery industry.

On-demand delivery firm Postmates is about to employ a cute little robot to work alongside its human delivery personnel. Called Serve, the wheel-based bot can carry items weighing up to 50 pounds and has a range of 30 miles. It'll hit the streets first in Los Angeles, with more cities welcoming the robot next year.

Think traditional mail is outdated? Think again. In Norway, residents will soon have their letters and packages delivered to them by a robot -- thanks to a deal between Posten-Norge, the Norwegian postal service, and automation company Buddy Mobility. Here's what they can expect.

Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robot has so far been tested in more than 20 countries, covering some 100,000 miles in the last four years. A recent trial involved taking a fleet of the wheel-based robots to a Silicon Valley campus, allowing workers to order meals from the comfort of their desk.

A new wheel-based delivery robot called YAPE uses facial recognition technology to enable the customer to get at the goodies.

San Francisco just passed regulations limiting the number of delivery bots to just nine in the city, and their speed to 3 mph.

DHL is conducting trials of a new autonomous "PostBOT" robot that helps delivery workers on their rounds by carrying the mail for them.

Ground-based delivery robots are being tested in several locations across the U.S., though they seem to be coming under increasing scrutiny.

This September Switzerland's postal service will begin trials of Starship Technologies' delivery robot. Tests are ongoing in Germany and the U.K. as well.