The food delivery industry has grown ever since the pandemic has restricted people in their homes and have to find other means to get food. Even though that high has since passed, companies are still innovating toward a more efficient system, which is what Bolt is achieving with autonomous robotic deliveries.
Bolt's Robot Delivery Service
The new method of food delivery is the outcome of a partnership between Bolt and another Estonian robotics company called Starship Technologies. The self-driving robots will be able to deliver food and grocery right to the customer's doorstep.
The robotic delivery system for online orders will first be tested in Tallinn, Estonia, where it is being developed before it rolls out on a wider scale. Even before the innovative service, Bolt has already seen success with food delivery among other services like micro-mobility.
As reported by Interesting Engineering, the ridesharing company has over 100 million users in 45 countries and 500 cities in the world. Robotics company Starship Technologies is also the first autonomous delivery company to complete five million commercial deliveries globally.
The robots can carry up to 20 pounds of items. It is equipped with cameras in order to navigate around objects in the environment and get to the customer's place. However, the delivery time might be longer since the robots can only go as fast as four miles per hour.
The current delivery robot from Starship Technologies, which has already been tested in more than 100 cities in 20 countries, can only pass through delivery zones that are limited to three or four miles. It's still unclear whether that will be extended with the new robots from Bolt.
It's likely that the companies will develop a robot with better capabilities and range. As mentioned in their press release, they aim to provide a "broader range of delivery options that accommodate different order sizes, preferences, and distances."
There's also the issue of the items being stolen while it's on the way to the customer. But, the company has made it so the robot will open only after the customer presses a button, which is found on the app so that not just anyone can access the delivery.
Starship Robots Have Alarms
As mentioned before, Starship has been in the business of using delivery robots for a while now, and successfully too. The company has found a way to avoid the items held by the robots from being stolen by adding an alarm sound when someone unauthorized picks them up.
Starship spokesperson Henry Harris-Burland said that they have already had incidents, but thanks to the "screeching alarm," not a single robot has been stolen, as mentioned in MK Citizen. The company might add this to the Bolt delivery robots as well.
The robots can also be tracked through Starship's app so customers would know where the robots are exactly when their food is being delivered. The company has since upgraded its battery and cameras to make them more efficient and long-lasting.
