Will a Delivery Robot Soon Be at Your Door?

If Summer 2019 is to be remembered for anything, technologically speaking, it might just be as the time autonomous delivery robots became a thing.

August saw a flurry of activity. In one month alone, e-commerce giant Amazon received clearance to begin testing its Scout robots in Irvine, Calif.; logistics company Postmates got San Francisco's blessing to pilot its Serve robots; and Starship Technologies announced $40 million (U.S.) in series A funding to expand its efforts.

Coca-Cola, in conjunction with Switzerland-based TeleRetail, also announced it was rolling out delivery robots at a theme park in England.

In September, the University of Pittsburgh and Purdue University in Indiana became the latest college campuses to allow San Francisco-based Starship's robots, joining George Mason University in Virginia and Northern Arizona University. The company plans to expand to 100 campuses over the next two years, with the goal of making robotic delivery an expectation with younger people.

Heading into the fall, autonomous delivery robots may very well continue to be on a roll. Besides the above participants, competitors including San Francisco-based Marble, Mountain View, Calif.-based Nuro and Memphis-based courier giant FedEx, among others, are aiming for a piece of the pie.

According to a January 2019 report by analysis firm MarketsandMarkets, the fledging industry is expected to grow from $11.9 billion in 2018 to $34 billion by 2024.

The robots — small, cooler-sized machines on wheels — can typically pack 10 to 20 kilograms of goods in a secured cargo hold and motor along on sidewalks at speeds of around five kilometres an hour. They use GPS, cameras and other sensors to autonomously navigate, with providers charging users a few dollars per delivery.

The end user generally receives an alert on their phone that their delivery has arrived, at which point they punch a custom passcode into the machine's touchscreen to unlock the cargo.

Companies have used the robots to deliver a range of goods, from pizzas and groceries to coffee and diapers. In most tests so far, jurisdictions have required human operators to follow the robots closely as a safety measure, but providers believe they will ultimately be entirely autonomous and independent.

Proponents say the robots will help solve a number of issues, such as a lack of adequate parking options in busy, urban areas. Critics, however, say the machines will simply move congestion from streets to sidewalks, where they are required to share space with pedestrians.

It's a bit early to say if delivery robots will catch on widely or not, but there's no doubt they've captured the imaginations of everyone from investors to college and amusement-park administrators. Have they caught your imagination?