Section 1 – General Information

1.1 What Is It?

Delivery robots have been an R&D subject for at least a decade now. The idea is to use autonomous robots and/or vehicles to make deliveries. Tech giants in the United States such as Amazon, Google and Starship Technologies have been developing robots and drones to be used as a delivery medium.

New technology, however, doesn’t come without hurdles. Currently, delivery drones are not yet used in some countries, mostly due to regulatory issues. In the US, delivery drones are currently illegal. “But those sidewalk and neighborhood vehicles avoid most of the regulatory issues that affect drones that fly. They only have to get approval from the local government, and that’s usually much easier. In addition, the robots only have to learn a relatively small area, which is more likely to be a successful project than areal navigation, which would take place over a larger area.” (Rash 2019). A better option, for now, is to use a sidewalk autonomous delivery vehicle. It kind of looks like a hybrid of car and an RC model. Amazon has started to use such delivery robots in some area in the US.

1.2 Safety and Security Risk

One of the challenges of delivery robots is a security risk. If the manufacturer doesn’t equip the robot with proper security equipment, the robot will just be an easy target for thieves. Since robots are autonomous with little-to-none human supervision, it would be fairly easy for thieves to do a brute force attack. One way to overcome the problem is to put security measures on the robot. Even the most basic security measures such as real-time surveillance camera and geolocation tracker could help to overcome the problem.

Another major challenge that delivery robots are facing is a safety risk. Delivery robots have to be able to navigate an area without causing harm to biological lives or even regulatory. Delivery drones have to be able to navigate without interfering other aircraft and restricted airspace. For sidewalk robots, it’s a bit more complex since “roboticists consider roads to be relatively “structured” environments—they’ve usually got stoplights and neat lanes and signage. But sidewalks are pure chaos.” (Simon, et. al. 2019). Robots manufacturers have to be able to develop a delivery robot that can navigate around the sidewalk safely that could overcome problems such as navigating around pedestrians, pets, and other obstacles. The robot also has to be able to react to a sudden environmental change such as detecting a person that is exiting a storefront and other similar things.

Maintenance and system status is crucial for safety too. Manufacturers and operators should include telemetry on the robots to monitor the performance (hardware and software) of the robots and to detect a fault. Once a fault is detected, either the manufacturer or operator should be reacting quickly for troubleshooting to prevent unwanted actions. “Kiwi robots have been busy delivering food around the UC Berkeley campus—and, occasionally, catching on fire.” (Simon, et. al. 2019).

1.3 Effect to the Society

The most probable effect of delivery robots to society is most likely to be the change of traffic patterns in all air, land and waters. The world will be filled with thousands of autonomous delivery robots/vehicles, thus, changing how we live our everyday life. With delivery robots deployed and connected to the online marketplace or store, the need to commute to obtain basic necessities will be decreasing significantly. People will tend to stay at home more than ever since basic necessities could be delivered to the front doors of our homes effortlessly. We will also see delivery fees dropping making delivery services even more accessible to different layers of society. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation promise to usher in a new era of inexpensive goods, effortless personalization, and freedom from tedium.” (Sterling 2019).

The biggest negative impact of delivery robots would be job losses. The unemployment rate will rise as the job field is replaced by automation. In my opinion, at the early stage of the deployment of delivery robots, regulation is needed to help to slow down unemployment until new job fields opened up. “Over 2% of Americans – 7 million people – lost their jobs in mass layoffs between 2004-2009. Workers without a college degree are particularly at risk. As production met automation.” (Sterling 2019).

1.4 Health Issue

Once delivery robots are fully deployed, it might affect people’s health. Both physically and mentally. “Workers in counties facing higher levels of automation risk reported more frequent levels of physical and mental distress.” (Riley 2018). Like I mentioned earlier, as everything will be available right on the doorstep, people will tend to stay at home. This new behaviour could lead to a major health problem if a person does not find a new activity to replace previous activities that were eliminated by the existence of delivery robots. Workers that have lost their jobs due to the technology could develop a serious mental health issue if not handled correctly.

Section 2 – Technical and Historical Information

2.1 Historical Information

The first known autonomous robot was the Seekur Robot. It was meant to demonstrate the capability of an MDARS (US military designation of unmanned vehicle and robot) autonomously. The robot was designed to be a general use in airports, utility plants, corrections facilities and the United States Homeland Security. The first delivery robot was created in 2014 by a startup company called Starship Technologies. It was then inspiring big online retail companies such as Amazon to develop their own delivery robot and drones.

A core technological advancement that leads to the development of autonomous robots is the advancement of sensors and geolocation positioning system. Those devices allow a vehicle to navigate autonomously.

2.2 Technical Information

A typical delivery robot is usually equipped with multiple cameras surrounding its body, ultrasonic sensors to detect nearby objects or obstacles, inertial measurement units to measure the vehicle’s force, angle and orientation, a geographical location tracker, wheels for ground vehicle, wings or rotor for drones, motors (usually electric), and a power source (battery for electric vehicle, fuel for conventional combustion engine).

A sidewalk robot should not be able to travel faster than the average speed of human walking. All delivery robots should be able to operate on all weather conditions. An advanced robot will be able to operate in the darkness. An advanced locking mechanism to secure the load is essential for both safety and security.

Section 3 – Impact of Technology

Is delivery robot a disruptive technology? In a decade, it is. Once delivery robots have fully developed and deployed, it will have a huge impact on our lives. Products will be more accessible than ever, businesses will grow and the society will be adapting to a new way of life. The technology will also impact the job fields, eliminating job fields in which it will create new ones.

Section 4 – Reference List

Rash, W. (2019). Why 2019 Might Be the Year of the Delivery Robot: EBSCOhost. [online] Web.a.ebscohost.com. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=955ecc60-0f27-4b16-ab90-fad6dd11d32f%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=134276506&db=a9h [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].

Simon, M., Pardes, A., Simon, M., Pardes, A., Carnevale, R., Matsakis, L., Watercutter, A., Ashworth, B., Camp, J. and Nield, D. (2019). The Prime Challenges for Scout, Amazon’s New Delivery Robot. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-new-delivery-robot-scout/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].

Sterling, A. (2019). Millions Of Jobs Have Been Lost To Automation. Economists Weigh In On What To Do About It. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amysterling/2019/06/15/automated-future/#69711c25779d [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].

Riley, T. (2019). Can Increased Automation Negatively Affect People’s Physical and Mental Health?. [online] Pacific Standard. Available at: https://psmag.com/social-justice/automation-increases-anxiety [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019].

Starship.xyz. (2019). Starship. [online] Available at: https://www.starship.xyz [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

Post.ch. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.post.ch/-/media/post/ueber-uns/medienmitteilungen/2017/factsheet-lieferroboter.pdf?la=en [Accessed 24 Aug. 2019].