Most road-based delivery robots take the form of a compact, wheel-based vehicle with a secure compartment for the item to be delivered.
But one big problem affects such devices: They can’t handle stairs, uneven ground or other challenging terrain, which prevents them from rolling right to someone’s doorstep.
Recognizing a gap in the market, Swiss startup Rivr introduced Milo earlier this year, which is best described as a highly versatile robot dog – similar to Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot – with a box on its back to store delivery items.
Milo is also on wheels, but his legs are so amazingly flexible that if he comes across a staircase, for example, he just runs straight up (or down!) the stairs.
Rivr is looking to deploy its intelligent AI-driven robot in the last-mile delivery space and just announced that the company will use Milo for commercial deliveries in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania early next year. Details about a partner – possibly a parcel or food delivery company – will follow soon. In fact, the robot is already being tested there under fairly harsh conditions:
The company tested Milo back in May in Austin, Texas, where the talented four-legged friend handled package deliveries between vans and doorsteps, using its onboard cameras and LiDAR technology to navigate its route. The recipient can unlock the box to collect their item. However, if he isn’t there to receive it, the robot can push it to the ground in front of his door.
Milo was also used in some pilot programs in the UK earlier this year, where he unloaded parcels from courier vans at the curb before delivering them directly to customers’ doorsteps.
Grocery deliveries using Milo were also tested in Zurich, Switzerland, with all of these missions demonstrating the robot’s ability to overcome a range of obstacles.
“The robot is built to operate where people live – not just on sidewalks,” Rivr CEO Marko Bjelonic said in an earlier statement. “It senses its surroundings, adapts to changing terrain and can deliver straight to the front door, even in complex residential layouts.”
Milos’s wheeled legs clearly help it shine where compact mobile delivery robots fail due to their flat design.
Rivr believes Milo can work with They do not replace delivery drivers, but rather help speed up deliveries and reduce driver fatigue.
The company’s attention now turns to the Pittsburgh trial as it refines the technology to introduce it on a larger scale.
