As I always say, the world can always use more cute robots.
Food and grocery delivery company Postmates has been researching ways to cut the carbon emissions from their delivery vehicles, as well as decrease the time it takes their employees to make deliveries. As a test case, Postmates has developed a little friend to help them out: Serve the delivery bot.
Despite only being a few feet tall, Serve can safely transport a good 50 pounds worth of cargo, and can travel up to 30 miles on a full battery charge. Serve’s small stature also makes him suited for sidewalk travel, which more than fixes the problem of long delivery times caused by road troubles. He features a series of on-board cameras and sensors that allow him to dodge and weave from passerby, as well as visual turn signals. His best feature (at least in my opinion) is his bright, expressive eyes which, in addition to being cute, also provide cues to passerby in front of him on where he’s going, when he’s turning, etc.
Serve is currently on a trial run in retirement homes, ferrying small meals and snacks to the retirees, but a proper, large scale test will be performed in Los Angeles some time in the next year. I don’t know if Serve will take delivery tips, but you can bet I’m still gonna give them to him.
