Successful start for food delivery robots on Cambridge streets

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Food delivery robots recently took to the historic Cambridge streets of as part of a new scheme by Cambridgeshire County Council, Starship Technologies and, Co-op.

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Following a popular pilot in nearby Cambourne earlier this year – with 98% of people saying they would recommend the delivery robots to their friends – the decision was made by the Highways and Transport Committee to welcome the robots to the streets of Cambridge, with the grocery delivery service available to 12,200 residents within the Cherry Hinton and Queen Edith areas of Cambridge.

Orders are made through the Starship food delivery app – which is available for download on iOS and Android – with groceries picked fresh in local Co-op stores and delivered quickly and conveniently in the community.

Residents can order their delivery to arrive in under an hour and watch the robot travel in real-time via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, residents receive an alert and can meet and unlock it through the app.

Cllr Alex Beckett, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Highways and Transport Committee, said: “We are excited to see how the robot delivery service integrates into the day-to-day lives of the residents of Cambridge. The advancement of technology has been a backbone of Cambridge for many years now and this is just another step towards a cleaner more sustainable future.”

The robots are battery powered, lightweight and travel at the speed of a pedestrian (no faster than 4mph). They use a combination of sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to travel on pavements and navigate around any obstacles, while computer vision-based navigation helps them map their environment to the nearest inch.

Starship, which was created by the co-founders of communications system Skype in 2014, currently operates a fully commercial service in five countries around the world and partners with Co-op in several towns and cities in the UK including: Milton Keynes – where Co-op was the first supermarket to use autonomous robot deliveries; Bedford and Northampton.

A Starship spokesperson told Talking Retail: “Our recent launch in Cambridge has been successful, with residents in the Cherry Hinton, Queen Edith, Romsey and Coleridge areas of the city able to receive on-demand, quick and sustainable food delivery straight to their doors. The robots have been very well received and are quickly becoming integrated into the local community. We hope to expand our services further across Cambridge in the near future working closely with Cambridgeshire County Council.”