Fannie Osran just had to help. The student at the UC, Berkeley, came upon a food-delivery robot, one of 120 deployed around campus, in front of a long flight of
stairs. The cooler-sized robot can’t navigate stairs, so it immediately backed up into a plant bed—where it got stuck in some mud. Ms. Osran told it, “You’re so pathetic.” She lifted the robot back onto the sidewalk, and it flashed heart eyes at her on its digital display as it rolled off.
Robotics companies are jumping into food delivery, testing out different models in limited areas, writes The Wall Street Journal (April 11, 2019). While people fear that robots will someday take over everyone’s jobs –for now, the prototypes can run into trouble just getting a burger and fries to a dorm. As the competition
among automated delivery services heats up, robot makers see winning over love from pedestrians—and local officials—as paramount to helping expand into communities and ease potential regulations.
Researchers also staged stuck robots in public, then hid in nearby restaurants and office buildings to see if anyone helped. They found people helped the robots more often when they emitted audible signals for help.
Oregon-based Agility Robotics builds walking robots that could be used for delivery. They resemble a headless person. “We don’t aspire to be cute. We’re definitely not going down that road,” said the CEO, noting that cute rolling robots can’t handle obstacles like stairs.
Classroom discussion questions:
1. Will these delivery robots be ubiquitous in 5 years?
2. Name other industries where “service robots” can make an impact.