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Milton Keynes’s Q&A on Starship is rather fun: https://www.aboutmiltonkeynes.co.uk/qa-on-mk-starship-delivery-robots/ https://www.aboutmiltonkeynes.co.uk/qa-on

Milton Keynes’s Q&A on Starship is rather fun: https://www.aboutmiltonkeynes.co.uk/qa-on-mk-starship-delivery-robots/ https://www.aboutmiltonkeynes.co.uk/qa-on-mk-starship-delive... ...a welcome bit of the internet with less polish and a few corny jokes. I must admit to being a bit embarrassed at never thinking of delivery drones meaning mars rover type drones. I always assumed that “drone delivery” would mean N-copters, but little rovers seem so much more sensible at least in a city with ample modern design like Milton Keynes. (Mars rovers probably cope with cobbles ok?)

amelius 7y ago
Yes but these rovers are quite slow.
- gorgoiler 7y ago
  I guess latency isn’t an issue when you have bandwidth / throughput to make up for it? Not for kebabs though (pleases to see that as one of the trial businesses in MK, hah!) Overnight silent electric delivery with custom delivery machines has historical precedent of course: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float
  - amelius 7y ago
    For customers, latency matters a lot.
    - Retric 7y ago
      Being able to skip a delivery driver tip is a significant incentive.
  - popotamonga 7y ago
    would they not be just vandalised?
    - trebligdivad 7y ago
      Depends where; the subscription bicycles have worked in a lot of places; but here (Manchester) a lot ended up in the canal. Probably the same.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - amelius 7y ago
      Maybe these rovers have cameras that can record the vandals for later identification.
    - tehlike 7y ago
      Maybe initially. Eventually, no. We don't destroy other people's cars for the most part.
      - vageli 7y ago
        > Maybe initially. Eventually, no. We don't destroy other people's cars for the most part. I recall as a kid seeing so many more trucks vandalized with graffiti than nowadays.
        tehlike 7y ago
        Part of that is probably racism, etc is going down, it's becoming more normal to be different. Maybe?
    - sharemywin 7y ago
      Don't they have camera's?
- maxerickson 7y ago
  That's due to the mass and power budgets for a Mars rover though, not some fundamental aspect of rovers.
  - tomatotomato37 7y ago
    To add to that, there are electric hobby RC cars for sale with enough power to hit 70mph stock.
    - sdoering 7y ago
      I had such a thing once. It was so much fun. A friend of mine had some others. Oh boy - what a past time.
- numpad0 7y ago
  I think it’s silly to scratch build rovers. Something like a motorized Renault Twizy would be a better fit.
  - 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
    Surely it's more silly to drive around an empty 500 kg motorized cage for humans just to deliver <1 kg of food?
    - gruez 7y ago
      Doesn’t that happen already? Sure, there’s a human, but he’s dead weight.
    - numpad0 7y ago
      But faster driving and more compatible with roads
globular-toast 7y ago
It makes a lot of sense in Milton Keynes. Unfortunately that kind of design makes it an incredibly boring place to live, but there are some benefits.
Aaronstotle 7y ago
There was a startup in Berkeley called Kiwibots pretty much did the same thing. The concept seemed promising at first glance, yet I always thought they were too small. I feel like if they made them cooler sized, and had them go on routes like an ice cream truck it would prove to be a better business model than a bunch of tiny robots going to an fro to deliver a bag of chips.
- Jasper_ 7y ago
  They faked the bots. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fans-at-UC-Berkeley-as-they-deliver-13895867.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fa... > The Kiwibots do not figure out their own routes. Instead, people in Colombia, the home country of Chavez and his two co-founders, plot “waypoints” for the bots to follow, sending them instructions every five to 10 seconds on where to go. > On the ground in Berkeley, people also do a lot of robot support. Traveling at 1 to 1½ mph, the bots would take too long to chug to local restaurants, so Kiwi workers pick up the food at restaurants and take it via bikes or scooters to meeting spots around campus to insert into an insulated bag in the bots’ storage compartment. > The average distance a robot covers for a delivery is about 200 meters (656 feet, or one-eighth of a mile) which makes them fall short of a “last-mile” solution. This isn't real robot automation. It's just trying to shove the human worker out of sight, down the end of the road.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- av_engr 7y ago
  Kiwibot isn't exactly that. Their vehicles are basically modified Traxxas RC cars and their "autonomy" is offshoring remote control work to Columbian workers for situation that the robot can't react to. Unlike Mars Rover that are designed to handle very rough and unexpected terrain, those Traxxas RC probably do not have that stability over obstacles that a mars rover have.

amelius 7y ago

Yes but these rovers are quite slow.

gorgoiler 7y ago
I guess latency isn’t an issue when you have bandwidth / throughput to make up for it? Not for kebabs though (pleases to see that as one of the trial businesses in MK, hah!) Overnight silent electric delivery with custom delivery machines has historical precedent of course: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float
- amelius 7y ago
  For customers, latency matters a lot.
  - Retric 7y ago
    Being able to skip a delivery driver tip is a significant incentive.
- popotamonga 7y ago
  would they not be just vandalised?
  - trebligdivad 7y ago
    Depends where; the subscription bicycles have worked in a lot of places; but here (Manchester) a lot ended up in the canal. Probably the same.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - amelius 7y ago
    Maybe these rovers have cameras that can record the vandals for later identification.
  - tehlike 7y ago
    Maybe initially. Eventually, no. We don't destroy other people's cars for the most part.
    - vageli 7y ago
      > Maybe initially. Eventually, no. We don't destroy other people's cars for the most part. I recall as a kid seeing so many more trucks vandalized with graffiti than nowadays.
      - tehlike 7y ago
        Part of that is probably racism, etc is going down, it's becoming more normal to be different. Maybe?
  - sharemywin 7y ago
    Don't they have camera's?
maxerickson 7y ago
That's due to the mass and power budgets for a Mars rover though, not some fundamental aspect of rovers.
- tomatotomato37 7y ago
  To add to that, there are electric hobby RC cars for sale with enough power to hit 70mph stock.
  - sdoering 7y ago
    I had such a thing once. It was so much fun. A friend of mine had some others. Oh boy - what a past time.
numpad0 7y ago
I think it’s silly to scratch build rovers. Something like a motorized Renault Twizy would be a better fit.
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
  Surely it's more silly to drive around an empty 500 kg motorized cage for humans just to deliver <1 kg of food?
  - gruez 7y ago
    Doesn’t that happen already? Sure, there’s a human, but he’s dead weight.
  - numpad0 7y ago
    But faster driving and more compatible with roads

globular-toast 7y ago

It makes a lot of sense in Milton Keynes. Unfortunately that kind of design makes it an incredibly boring place to live, but there are some benefits.

Aaronstotle 7y ago

There was a startup in Berkeley called Kiwibots pretty much did the same thing. The concept seemed promising at first glance, yet I always thought they were too small. I feel like if they made them cooler sized, and had them go on routes like an ice cream truck it would prove to be a better business model than a bunch of tiny robots going to an fro to deliver a bag of chips.

Jasper_ 7y ago
They faked the bots. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fans-at-UC-Berkeley-as-they-deliver-13895867.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fa... > The Kiwibots do not figure out their own routes. Instead, people in Colombia, the home country of Chavez and his two co-founders, plot “waypoints” for the bots to follow, sending them instructions every five to 10 seconds on where to go. > On the ground in Berkeley, people also do a lot of robot support. Traveling at 1 to 1½ mph, the bots would take too long to chug to local restaurants, so Kiwi workers pick up the food at restaurants and take it via bikes or scooters to meeting spots around campus to insert into an insulated bag in the bots’ storage compartment. > The average distance a robot covers for a delivery is about 200 meters (656 feet, or one-eighth of a mile) which makes them fall short of a “last-mile” solution. This isn't real robot automation. It's just trying to shove the human worker out of sight, down the end of the road.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
av_engr 7y ago
Kiwibot isn't exactly that. Their vehicles are basically modified Traxxas RC cars and their "autonomy" is offshoring remote control work to Columbian workers for situation that the robot can't react to. Unlike Mars Rover that are designed to handle very rough and unexpected terrain, those Traxxas RC probably do not have that stability over obstacles that a mars rover have.