Robots may soon make your FedEx delivery from Walmart, Target and Pizza Hut
The robotic contraption rolling down the street just might be delivering a FedEx package to your home or office. That's the vision, anyway, behind the FedEx SameDay Bot that the shipping giant unveiled Wednesday. This sub-200-pound autonomous delivery robot was developed by DEKA Development & Research Corp, whose founder is Segway inventor Dean Kamen.
The SameDay Bot is so-named because its mission is to help retailers make same-day, "last mile" deliveries to local customers. FedEx is collaborating with AutoZone, Lowe's, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart.
FedEx plans to test the bot this summer in select markets and FedEx Office locations, starting in the company's own Memphis hometown, pending final approval by the city. That approval would appear to be likely since it has the backing of Mayor Jim Strickland.
According to FedEx, on average, more than 60 percent of merchants' customers live within three miles of a store location, demonstrating the opportunity for on-demand, hyper-local delivery.
BTW, where's my breakfast? (Pizza in bed, please.)
Also at The Verge and Engadget.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @05:46AM
You could probably use a stun gun, various types of improvised EMP, pay some kids to push it over and cover it with an improvised faraday cage. Use a drone to drop water-balloons full of paint. Shoot it with a rifle from a distance. Cover your face and smash all outside surface with a bat or a crowbar until you locate and disable the power supply.