Starship Technologies has made its "autonomous package delivery" service available in Milton Keynes, and it plans to expand to other towns and cities soon
CONSUMERS in the UK are now able have their packages posted to their doors by robots, after delivery company Starship Technologies opened an "autonomous package delivery" service to the British public today.
The service is first rolling out in Milton Keynes, but the company plans to expand in the near future to other towns and cities.
Launched in July 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, Starship Technologies have spent the past four years developing small self-driving ('autonomous') vehicles that can deliver parcels without being directly controlled.
After already having covered 125,000 miles in 20 countries, the company is now ready to unleash these robots on the public, with Milton Keynes being the first UK town to benefit from its service.
All residents have to do is download the Starship Deliveries app, which is available on and .
Once they've ordered a product online and it has been transported to their local Starship facility, they can then use the app to choose when and where the package will be delivered to them by one of Starship's self-driving robots.
"We’re excited that thanks to our technology, local communities across Milton Keynes will never miss a home delivery again,” said Starship CEO Lex Bayer.
Bayer believes that human delivery puts customers at a disadvantage because it doesn't allow for enough flexibility, often forcing us to be at home when a courier is doing his or her rounds.
He explains, “Today more than ever, people lead busy and diverse lives. The hassle of needing to re-arrange your life for a delivery will become a thing of the past […] Starship gets packages to consumers when and where they want them. This is the only service of its kind available in the world today, and it works around your lifestyle.”
For the purposes of its service, Starship Technologies has signed deals with a range of businesses, and will also deliver products to business and university campuses.
"In the UK, Starship has partnered with the Co-Operative Food Stores to delivers groceries to residents living within 1 hour of Starship’s delivery facility in Milton Keynes," Bayer tells the Sun.
Once a user of the Starship Deliveries app has ordered something, the delivery robot travels along pavements and crosses roads just as any postman or pedestrian would do.
And according to Bayer, its robots harness an impressive range of technologies in order to navigate their way around busy urban landscapes.
"They have many sensors, including 10 cameras, ultrasound sensors, radar, and GPS. These enable the robots to see 360 degrees around them and have a ‘situational awareness bubble’ around them to detect and avoid any obstacles," he explains.
"They use sophisticated computer vision and neural networks software to identify objects in the world such as cars, pedestrians, traffic lights, and, of course, pavements."
And just for those who still don't trust the increasingly impressive abilities of robots and AIs, Bayer affirms that each of Starship's self-driving vehicles will be monitored by human employees sitting in a control centre.
"Human operators can take control of a robot if need be, and help the robot around any unusual obstacles or if an unusual situation arises."
What do you think about self-driving delivery robots? Let us know in the comments.
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