Founder of Skype founded a company for the development of automatic delivery robot, traveled on the ground instead of the drone

Skype co-founder Janus Fris and Ahti Heinla announced that they started a company called "Starship Technologies" and are working on the development of automatic delivery robots. When I say robot which carries things automatically, it got permission of flying ahead of Amazon dream of Amazon Prime Air and that AmazonFlirtey's "Drone Courier"There are, but at Starship Technologies, we are thinking of a robot that runs on the ground, not flying in the sky.

This is the picture of the delivery robot that is open.

Local Delivery Robot by Starship Technologies - YouTube


It is hard to understand because it is a blurred image image, but the light arranged in a strip shape shimmers ... ...


The red light is on.


The appearance of a robot who turned on the headlight for a moment.


There is also a sensor-like cut on the side of the main unit.



This is the figure seen from the front. I do not quite understand how big this image is.


Looking at the "Concept" on the official website, there are pictures of robots facing men, you can see the approximate size.


Press Release - Starship Technologies
http://www.starship.xyz/press-release/

According to Mr. Heinla, the aim is to provide a regional delivery system that realized three zeros "zero cost, zero waiting time, zero environmental impact", a large change that Skype caused for communication Starship Technologies said that he wanted to bring it to local delivery this time.

The delivery robot can carry two bags of shopping bags and will be delivering from the relay point and outlet of the area in about 5 to 30 minutes. During delivery, the user can know the position of the robot in real time by using the application, and upon arrival, only the user of the application can retrieve the package.

Since the robot has an integrated navigation system and obstacle avoidance software installed, automatic operation is possible. However, it is said that the operator will monitor not to leave it to the robot entirely but to allow human intervention at any time to ensure safety.

The merit is not only for the user but also for the seller, so if you do not bother to deliver the cost and time over time, if you send the necessary package to the relay point, this delivery robot carries it, so the shipping fee It seems to be structured to be able to suppress. By the way, it is said that most of the shipping cost of luggage is costing this "few miles left".

The delivery speed of the delivery robot is about 4 mph (about 6.4 km / h), slower than the bicycle. Since it is not a drone, it does not fly and will travel on the sidewalk or paved road mixed with pedestrians. Currently it is under prototype testing, and it is said that the test operation will be started with service partners in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom within 2016.

In the article of BBC, you can see the image of the robot moving around a bit.

Starship robot aims to reduce delivery costs - BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34581691

It is about the size of an adult so that it could straddle it.