Will delivery robots put couriers out of work?
Logistics industry has become one of the important scenes of robot applications, with the rapid expansion of the e-commerce industry, the demand for logistics and distribution is growing, the traditional manpower began to show many shortcomings, and robots will become a new role in the logistics industry. At present, logistics manufacturers are trying to use robots to manage warehouses, the goods for picking, handling and access. In addition, there are in the distribution link, the use of drones and courier robots, through the last kilometer of logistics express.
Recently, Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, launched its own network of distribution robots, using the small six-wheel mobile robot Scout to deliver packages to customers. Scout is equipped with a small freezer that allows the robot to roll at a walking speed, autonomously follow the route and avoid pedestrians.
Currently, Scout Robotics is officially approved for pilot operations north of Amazon’s home city of Seattle, and the distribution network serves only during daylight hours, taking into account safety concerns and avoiding pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. These devices will automatically follow their delivery route, but will initially be accompanied by Amazon employees to ensure that everything goes according to plan.
Amazon began laying out logistics robots early, initially acquiring Kiva, a warehouse robotics company, in 2012 and overhauling the warehouse, where Kiva is responsible for handling and managing warehouse cargo, greatly improving Amazon’s efficiency in e-commerce. In 2013, Amazon launched The Express Drone Prime Air, which plans to deliver flights in the next few years. However, due to safety and policy regulation, coupled with the limitations of the load of drones, drone delivery is currently difficult to implement in U.S. cities.
Now, Amazon is reintroducing delivery robots, a sign of the company’s interest in unmanned technology. As a world-class e-commerce giant, Amazon has a market capitalisation of more than $800 billion, and with the rise of online shopping, the demand for e-commerce logistics will grow dramatically, with Amazon having a large customer base and now offering better delivery through its own fleet of autonomous transportation vehicles.
The robot delivery service on the city streets is a challenging task, compared to the warehouse, hospital and hotel surrounding the scene, the need to consider the crowded people, slopes, stones and other complex road conditions, but also affected by the weather, distribution robots need to run in sufficient light. Amazon has been working for years to develop autonomous drone technology to serve its vast network of warehouses, and sooner or later these challenges will be overcome.
Amazon isn’t the first company to launch a delivery robot, which is booming across the logistics robot industry, and there are already many examples of delivery robots, such as the delivery robots of start-up Kiwi, which have been trialled at Berkeley. PepsiCo partnered with Robby Technologies to distribute robots, JD.com and Sinda co-delivery robots, and set up a smart logistics pilot in Hunan. And balance car maker Segway recently launched the Loomo Go delivery robot.
As more and more distribution robots enter the market, they will further resolve the huge logistics and distribution needs arising from the expansion of e-commerce, which connect to the computing center through the network, realize unified management scheduling, and even discover new business opportunities in large data analysis. In the future, more courier deliveries will be handed over to these robots, and couriers may face the challenge of losing their jobs.
Original by : OFweekroboot
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