7 ms·

Starship Robots – Small robots that travel sidewalks for local delivery

56 points by jkaljundi 11y ago

waterlesscloud 11y ago
Obviously useful for large, controlled environments. Large office buildings, Disneyland tunnels, intra-stadium logistics, movie studios, facilities like refineries or dams or whatever.
- lifeformed 11y ago
  That's cool, I haven't thought about that. There's already similar ones in hospitals delivering simple items, I think.
phreeza 11y ago
Looks neat in a scifi sort of way, but I am not sure people would be too happy about having these things running around on already busy sidewalks.
- peteretep 11y ago
  One key advantage of automating this is that it could avoid the busy ones...
peteretep 11y ago
I wonder which cities have realistically good enough sidewalks/pavements for this to work consistently.
dfinlay 11y ago
I would be very excited to receive items from one of these robots. However, I don't know if I could bring myself to send anything of import. The risk of en route damage/theft seems really high. The trapping or taunting of them seems like a surefire activity for children. Their contribution to already congested pedestrian routes in urban areas seems like a perfect catalyst for sidewalk rage induced kicks. If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. A few hours to build a serviceable faraday cage and you have a drop and lift job that nets significant gains. Not advocated theft, but it seems a rather obvious risk. Also, dogs rejoice! You finally have a catchable, chewable mail courier. Edit: There also seems to be some potential security risks here. Some cities may not be keen on unmanned, arbitrary payload carrying robots driving through throngs of pedestrians. They are going to have vet the store operators and detect if a recipient fills a unit with unexpected items. Maybe that is just paranoia.
- bigethan 11y ago
  > If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. That was my first thought as well. Get a van and a sledgehammer and wait a few blocks away from their depot in the morning. Sure they could phone home, but what is the cost of maintaining a staff to protect the robots vs. just having the staff deliver things. Reminds me of a friend who was a Marine Biologist. Their lab spent a lot of money to get an underwater probe that could go around and take automated readings based on a map. But the probe cost so much money that they had to follow it the whole time in a boat to make sure it didn't get lost.
  - betimsl 11y ago
    >> If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. The first thing I thought. > ...they had to follow it the whole time in a boat to make sure it didn't get lost. This should be a great input for this company making these, actually solves the issue of theft. One robot, one person to follow it from a distance and make sure it does not get lost or, ehem stolen.
    - dfinlay 11y ago
      > This should be a great input for this company making these, actually solves the issue of theft. One robot, one person to follow it from a distance and make sure it does not get lost or, ehem stolen. A one to one relationship doesn't seem like it would scale. They could make their operation centers mobile by outfitting vans or buses. That would allow for visual monitoring as needed, and quick responses to breakdowns/thefts/vandalism. As an added bonus, they could see a net savings on downtown office space as well!
      - chillingeffect 11y ago
        Maybe it's more like this: a foreperson rolls up in a truck. Then a stream of about 20 of these fulla ciggies n beer loops through to the convenience store to drop it off. No heavy hand truck.
    - 11y ago
vld 11y ago
What about stairs/raised sidewalks?
- chedabob 11y ago
  It looks like the rear wheels can moved up and down to give it more ground clearance for sidewalks. I presume it only works in areas that are wheelchair accessible, and any areas it has trouble with (such as a flight of stairs in an apartment), it could notify the recipient to come and collect it.
- zelos 11y ago
  The Daleks figured it out eventually, I'm sure these guys will too.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
    Seriously? Those things travelled millions of light-years but yet they were stopped by a flight of stairs.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Maybe they could use the same design as the stair-scaling wheelchair that was featured on HN few days ago?
JDDunn9 11y ago
I looked into building a similar robot, but couldn't overcome the challenges of crossing the street. You need some pretty advanced computer vision to follow stoplights, or worse, roads without stoplights. Stairs are also a problem. I hope they'll give a blog post detailing how they overcame some of these obstacles.
bigethan 11y ago
Very Star Wars. Seems perfect for deliveries around a large office campus where theft, maps, and smooth sidewalks are all very manageable. Though I don't know how much profit is in that market.
- _up 11y ago
  I think as soon as the robot is also able to fill the fridge by itself and even be cheaper than shopping yourself. It will change the world.
bfwi 11y ago
As always, the people of HN have found the weaknesses in this product that the founders haven't thought of at all, and they will surely shut the whole thing down now.
- bigethan 11y ago
  I'd argue that the product page doesn't sell properly if everyone is freaking out over possible issues. If they've solved for obvious problems, they should discuss those solutions a little. Otherwise it's not much more than a fancy Big Trak.
  - bfwi 11y ago
    The landing page is probably just for showing people that they're working on the product. Very few of the eventual consumers are going to visit the site in its current form.
- dfinlay 11y ago
  The Starship Robots are really cool. The sort of stuff I dreamt of as a child after staying up too late reading Asimov by flashlight. If I found myself working on a project like that, I would be more than thrilled. I probably came off too negative in my first post. When presented with a machine out of a childhood dream, I was suddenly laden with the fear of reality. It is a great idea, and I hope they execute it perfectly. The path they choose around the roadblocks will be the real magic.
- dang 11y ago
  Yes, dismissive comments are a problem. It is better to respond to new work with an open mind and to be constructive when criticizing. Still, posting another dismissive comment doesn't improve the thread. More helpful would be including specific information about things like (a) what we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss; (b) what the founders have probably thought of; (c) how to post more substantively; or (d) how to criticize more constructively. Then we learn something.
martin-adams 11y ago
Something like this would work very well in places like hotels, Centre Parcs[1] or theme parks. However, I think that is a bit niche for what it's aimed at. [1] http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/index.jsp http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/index.jsp
Already__Taken 11y ago
You have a nicely sized full-height video on the page and cover the top of it with that dumb sticky header. There's only 1080px of content I can fit on my screen why steal that with a useless thick color bar. More fool me I suppose for still browsing the web fullscreen.
imron 11y ago
> For security, the cargo bay is locked throughout the delivery and can be opened only by the recipient via the mobile phone Or with a crowbar..
tomjacobs 11y ago
Hey I'm building this too! Doesn't quite look as high tech, but a Kinect + ROS + RC car + a basket goes a long way. https://medium.com/@TomPJacobs/self-driving-cars-now-in-mini-size-95d450bb98b6 https://medium.com/@TomPJacobs/self-driving-cars-now-in-mini...
tehno 11y ago
Btw, the core team behind this actually participated in the NASA's Sample Return Robot Challenge[1] two years in a row as Team Kuukulgur, before this venture. Nice to see the produced know-how and technology being put to use in everyday-related product now. [1] http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/sample_return_robot/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challe...
Anchor 11y ago
There's a team building, it seems, the same thing in partnership with DHL: http://www.sidewalkdelivery.co http://www.sidewalkdelivery.co
lifeformed 11y ago
I wonder how the economics work out? What's the cost of owning and maintaining one of these, versus a human courier on a bike? The page says it can lower local delivery costs by a factor of 5x-10x, which seems like a lot.
- thrill 11y ago
  Brad Templeton, who is an advisor to the company, estimates these will be used for deliveries in about thirty minutes and for about one dollar.
junto 11y ago
They want to run pilots in the UK and US next year. British pavements (sidewalks) have to be the ultimate test!
- martiuk 11y ago
  I can't imagine these roaming around the streets of Birmingham, they'll just be picked up and dismantled for cash.
- lucaspiller 11y ago
  British pavements are a dream, you should come to Italy. Here is the 'pavement' on my walk home (the yellow pole is a bus stop): http://i.imgur.com/30ujPfb.jpg http://i.imgur.com/30ujPfb.jpg
- stuaxo 11y ago
  Yeah, British pavements should be fine, try somewhere like Thailand or Vietnam ..
FrojoS 11y ago
Here is a video from BBC which gives a lot more information https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkp2J3D-fM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkp2J3D-fM For instance, the founder mentions that the robot is expected to be remote controlled by a human in about 1% of the conditions which are deemed too difficult. Also, they talk about the theft/vandalism problem. Like some here have speculated, the plan is to use loud speakers to say something like "What are you doing? The police will be here in 5min and we have you on video." Personally, I dont know if it will work but anyway I think its a great idea. Maybe obvious in hindsight, but my mind is still blown when thinking about it.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Might work, if the cargo were somehow locked in. Maybe unlocks when scanned at the receive site somehow? To discourage casual theft.
JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Could work inside a campus or industrial center? Maybe in the new Apple starship juggernaut.
billybilly1920 11y ago
I watched the video, and it seems all it really does is spins in circles and turns the headlights on and off.

56 points by jkaljundi 11y ago

Obviously useful for large, controlled environments. Large office buildings, Disneyland tunnels, intra-stadium logistics, movie studios, facilities like refineries or dams or whatever.

lifeformed 11y ago
That's cool, I haven't thought about that. There's already similar ones in hospitals delivering simple items, I think.

phreeza 11y ago

Looks neat in a scifi sort of way, but I am not sure people would be too happy about having these things running around on already busy sidewalks.

peteretep 11y ago
One key advantage of automating this is that it could avoid the busy ones...

peteretep 11y ago

I wonder which cities have realistically good enough sidewalks/pavements for this to work consistently.

dfinlay 11y ago

I would be very excited to receive items from one of these robots. However, I don't know if I could bring myself to send anything of import. The risk of en route damage/theft seems really high. The trapping or taunting of them seems like a surefire activity for children. Their contribution to already congested pedestrian routes in urban areas seems like a perfect catalyst for sidewalk rage induced kicks. If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. A few hours to build a serviceable faraday cage and you have a drop and lift job that nets significant gains. Not advocated theft, but it seems a rather obvious risk. Also, dogs rejoice! You finally have a catchable, chewable mail courier. Edit: There also seems to be some potential security risks here. Some cities may not be keen on unmanned, arbitrary payload carrying robots driving through throngs of pedestrians. They are going to have vet the store operators and detect if a recipient fills a unit with unexpected items. Maybe that is just paranoia.

bigethan 11y ago
> If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. That was my first thought as well. Get a van and a sledgehammer and wait a few blocks away from their depot in the morning. Sure they could phone home, but what is the cost of maintaining a staff to protect the robots vs. just having the staff deliver things. Reminds me of a friend who was a Marine Biologist. Their lab spent a lot of money to get an underwater probe that could go around and take automated readings based on a map. But the probe cost so much money that they had to follow it the whole time in a boat to make sure it didn't get lost.
- betimsl 11y ago
  >> If they were to commonly transport high value goods, theft would be a huge issue. The first thing I thought. > ...they had to follow it the whole time in a boat to make sure it didn't get lost. This should be a great input for this company making these, actually solves the issue of theft. One robot, one person to follow it from a distance and make sure it does not get lost or, ehem stolen.
  - dfinlay 11y ago
    > This should be a great input for this company making these, actually solves the issue of theft. One robot, one person to follow it from a distance and make sure it does not get lost or, ehem stolen. A one to one relationship doesn't seem like it would scale. They could make their operation centers mobile by outfitting vans or buses. That would allow for visual monitoring as needed, and quick responses to breakdowns/thefts/vandalism. As an added bonus, they could see a net savings on downtown office space as well!
    - chillingeffect 11y ago
      Maybe it's more like this: a foreperson rolls up in a truck. Then a stream of about 20 of these fulla ciggies n beer loops through to the convenience store to drop it off. No heavy hand truck.
  - 11y ago

vld 11y ago

What about stairs/raised sidewalks?

chedabob 11y ago
It looks like the rear wheels can moved up and down to give it more ground clearance for sidewalks. I presume it only works in areas that are wheelchair accessible, and any areas it has trouble with (such as a flight of stairs in an apartment), it could notify the recipient to come and collect it.
zelos 11y ago
The Daleks figured it out eventually, I'm sure these guys will too.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  Seriously? Those things travelled millions of light-years but yet they were stopped by a flight of stairs.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
Maybe they could use the same design as the stair-scaling wheelchair that was featured on HN few days ago?

JDDunn9 11y ago

I looked into building a similar robot, but couldn't overcome the challenges of crossing the street. You need some pretty advanced computer vision to follow stoplights, or worse, roads without stoplights. Stairs are also a problem. I hope they'll give a blog post detailing how they overcame some of these obstacles.

bigethan 11y ago

Very Star Wars. Seems perfect for deliveries around a large office campus where theft, maps, and smooth sidewalks are all very manageable. Though I don't know how much profit is in that market.

_up 11y ago
I think as soon as the robot is also able to fill the fridge by itself and even be cheaper than shopping yourself. It will change the world.

bfwi 11y ago

As always, the people of HN have found the weaknesses in this product that the founders haven't thought of at all, and they will surely shut the whole thing down now.

bigethan 11y ago
I'd argue that the product page doesn't sell properly if everyone is freaking out over possible issues. If they've solved for obvious problems, they should discuss those solutions a little. Otherwise it's not much more than a fancy Big Trak.
- bfwi 11y ago
  The landing page is probably just for showing people that they're working on the product. Very few of the eventual consumers are going to visit the site in its current form.
dfinlay 11y ago
The Starship Robots are really cool. The sort of stuff I dreamt of as a child after staying up too late reading Asimov by flashlight. If I found myself working on a project like that, I would be more than thrilled. I probably came off too negative in my first post. When presented with a machine out of a childhood dream, I was suddenly laden with the fear of reality. It is a great idea, and I hope they execute it perfectly. The path they choose around the roadblocks will be the real magic.
dang 11y ago
Yes, dismissive comments are a problem. It is better to respond to new work with an open mind and to be constructive when criticizing. Still, posting another dismissive comment doesn't improve the thread. More helpful would be including specific information about things like (a) what we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss; (b) what the founders have probably thought of; (c) how to post more substantively; or (d) how to criticize more constructively. Then we learn something.

martin-adams 11y ago

Something like this would work very well in places like hotels, Centre Parcs[1] or theme parks. However, I think that is a bit niche for what it's aimed at. [1] http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/index.jsp http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/index.jsp

Already__Taken 11y ago

You have a nicely sized full-height video on the page and cover the top of it with that dumb sticky header. There's only 1080px of content I can fit on my screen why steal that with a useless thick color bar. More fool me I suppose for still browsing the web fullscreen.

imron 11y ago

> For security, the cargo bay is locked throughout the delivery and can be opened only by the recipient via the mobile phone Or with a crowbar..

tomjacobs 11y ago

Hey I'm building this too! Doesn't quite look as high tech, but a Kinect + ROS + RC car + a basket goes a long way. https://medium.com/@TomPJacobs/self-driving-cars-now-in-mini-size-95d450bb98b6 https://medium.com/@TomPJacobs/self-driving-cars-now-in-mini...

tehno 11y ago

Btw, the core team behind this actually participated in the NASA's Sample Return Robot Challenge[1] two years in a row as Team Kuukulgur, before this venture. Nice to see the produced know-how and technology being put to use in everyday-related product now. [1] http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/sample_return_robot/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challe...

Anchor 11y ago

There's a team building, it seems, the same thing in partnership with DHL: http://www.sidewalkdelivery.co http://www.sidewalkdelivery.co

lifeformed 11y ago

I wonder how the economics work out? What's the cost of owning and maintaining one of these, versus a human courier on a bike? The page says it can lower local delivery costs by a factor of 5x-10x, which seems like a lot.

thrill 11y ago
Brad Templeton, who is an advisor to the company, estimates these will be used for deliveries in about thirty minutes and for about one dollar.

junto 11y ago

They want to run pilots in the UK and US next year. British pavements (sidewalks) have to be the ultimate test!

martiuk 11y ago
I can't imagine these roaming around the streets of Birmingham, they'll just be picked up and dismantled for cash.
lucaspiller 11y ago
British pavements are a dream, you should come to Italy. Here is the 'pavement' on my walk home (the yellow pole is a bus stop): http://i.imgur.com/30ujPfb.jpg http://i.imgur.com/30ujPfb.jpg
stuaxo 11y ago
Yeah, British pavements should be fine, try somewhere like Thailand or Vietnam ..

FrojoS 11y ago

Here is a video from BBC which gives a lot more information https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkp2J3D-fM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkp2J3D-fM For instance, the founder mentions that the robot is expected to be remote controlled by a human in about 1% of the conditions which are deemed too difficult. Also, they talk about the theft/vandalism problem. Like some here have speculated, the plan is to use loud speakers to say something like "What are you doing? The police will be here in 5min and we have you on video." Personally, I dont know if it will work but anyway I think its a great idea. Maybe obvious in hindsight, but my mind is still blown when thinking about it.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Might work, if the cargo were somehow locked in. Maybe unlocks when scanned at the receive site somehow? To discourage casual theft.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

Could work inside a campus or industrial center? Maybe in the new Apple starship juggernaut.

billybilly1920 11y ago

I watched the video, and it seems all it really does is spins in circles and turns the headlights on and off.