Starship Technologies Robots are Delivering Packages

AlphaAtlas

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Starship Technologies launched what it claims to be the world's first robotic package delivery service. The company's ground-based robots already deliver food to some locations in Calfornia, but starting today, residents in Milton Keynes, UK will be able to open up an app on their phone, and get packages delivered wherever they want, whenever they want. While theft and vandalism is an obvious concern for ground based robots, the company is actually pitching security as one of the service's selling points, as customers don't have to worry about packages getting stolen at doorsteps.

Check out a video of the robots in action here.

Package theft happens to 42% of city dwellers, 26% of suburbians, and 19% of people who live in rural areas. Starship’s service gives consumers complete control over when their packages arrive so that packages are never left unattended. According to August’s Home Package Theft Report, victims of package theft are spending on average $200+ to replace each package and a study by Shorr Packaging Corp found that 41% of respondents avoided purchasing online goods like electronics because they feared packages would be stolen. The new service will be available to residents in the Bay Area, California before the end of the year.
 
Interesting. But to be a true delivery bot, it needs to toss the package from the sidewalk into the door, then deny it... or claim it was delivered and sell it on the side for tungsten.
 
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So does it just sit there for 10 hours until I get home from work?
 
WOW.. thats literally an accident waiting to happen.

While i get why they put the little flag on it to help it bee seen.. but that thing crossing a road will not be seen by a lot of motorists turning a corner and will run it over.

to say nothing of bikes on sidewalks.. and just people in general walking.
 
what stops package theft in transit?

My thought exactly. I can just see a guy with a ski mask (I expect they have cameras) and a baseball bat mugging that goofy little thing & making off with not only the packages but half its parts.
 
what stops package theft in transit?

The lid is locked.
The unit has GPS tracking.
If it's picked up or otherwise tampered with it can send signals to a monitoring service and the cameras onboard can be used to see what's happening. If it's determined t's theft, police are contacted.

Not hard to know how this stops theft...
 
Man I want to live in a city like that, where the sidewalks are clean, there's practically no people walking around, yet apparently is still big enough that construction is going on, no homeless dude trying to take a piss on it, no drunk guys trying to take a piss on it, no dudes in general trying to take a piss on it, no skateboarders doing tricks off it, no one trying to steal it, hell if you lived in that city you can probably just have Amazon delivery your packages and leave them on your porch and they'll be there when you get home at night.

Coming to some city in the UK... but our promo video was shot in a California city. Gotta wonder though how much that thing costs plus operational costs such that it's cheaper than a delivery boy or something.

Edit: n/m saw the video title when it stopped Sunnyvale, CA still in the SF bay, big pass for me! (because I already live here, and I"m not moving sideways)
 
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no skateboarders doing tricks off it


LOL hadnt even thought of that part of the sidewalk hazard...

IF, which i seriously doubt, these things are deployed, i can see a new skater challenge.. taking a selfie of your self jump over one.. or some such maneuver
 
The lid is locked.
The unit has GPS tracking.
If it's picked up or otherwise tampered with it can send signals to a monitoring service and the cameras onboard can be used to see what's happening. If it's determined t's theft, police are contacted.

Not hard to know how this stops theft...
You do realize people steal Tesla's. Not hard to know how easy it is to bypass everything you just said.
 
Stuff like this can work where there's no snow. But around here with snow and ice. It won't work. All these robots we been seeing that go around the city only work where there's no snow.
 
Also notice how there are no steps or stairs, and you have to wonder how it would activate your elevator. Also no revolving door entrances, manually opened building doors, etc.
 
You do realize people steal Tesla's. Not hard to know how easy it is to bypass everything you just said.

And the Tesla is easily tracked. As will these. Sure people will steal these but they will be caught much easier

Just FYI, I can track where my Model 3 is at any time with my phone and the Tesla app
 
Stuff like this can work where there's no snow. But around here with snow and ice. It won't work. All these robots we been seeing that go around the city only work where there's no snow.
Why does with any technology that's shown someone always has to bring up the "but snow and ice..." whether it's an electric car, self driving car, solar panels, solar powered roadway (we'll ignore this one), or whatever. I mean it's almost like if something can't be used virtually everywhere it should be used no where.
 
Saw these running around Sunnyvale a few months ago. Seemed to work well enough.. my biggest concern was there will undoubtedly be pedestrians who aren't paying attention or listening to headphones or something and when they 'trip' over it.. lawsuit. The unit from what I saw navigates around people, but sometimes there's only so much sidewalk space. Nonetheless.. neat.
 
Or it goes into the seedier part of town, and they find it covered with graffiti and stripped for parts?
graffiti-alphabet-at-at-thumb-400x331.jpg
 
Man I want to live in a city like that, where the sidewalks are clean, there's practically no people walking around, yet apparently is still big enough that construction is going on, no homeless dude trying to take a piss on it, no drunk guys trying to take a piss on it, no dudes in general trying to take a piss on it, no skateboarders doing tricks off it, no one trying to steal it, hell if you lived in that city you can probably just have Amazon delivery your packages and leave them on your porch and they'll be there when you get home at night.

Coming to some city in the UK... but our promo video was shot in a California city. Gotta wonder though how much that thing costs plus operational costs such that it's cheaper than a delivery boy or something.

Edit: n/m saw the video title when it stopped Sunnyvale, CA still in the SF bay, big pass for me! (because I already live here, and I"m not moving sideways)
I don't know if this thing can compete with bicycle courier services in my town. I mean, bikes are fast and those kids are motivated.
 
Disappointed with the misleading title. Had hoped Starship and Delivery would involve SpaceX and a ballistic doorstep drop off. Oh well... guess we have to wait for the autonomous flying Grumman vans.
 
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