SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

[Merge with Australia Post story?]

Google has put a tentative date on deliveries by drone [bbc.com]:

Search giant Google has announced a date for the launch of its drone delivery service. Called Project Wing, the initiative aims to be delivering goods to consumers using the robot aircraft sometime in 2017. The announcement came from David Vos, the project leader for the delivery service. Online retailers such as Amazon, Alibaba and others are also experimenting with drone delivery. "Our goal is to have commercial business up and running in 2017," said Mr Vos during a speech at an air traffic control convention being held in Washington.

Meanwhile, Skype's co-founders are working on a more grounded approach [theregister.co.uk]:

Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis are poised to unleash a fleet of trundling robodelivery vehicles, promising to get up to two bags of groceries to your door within 30 minutes.

Starship Technologies [starship.xyz]' bots, which are capable of delivering up to 5km from a central hub at a leisurely 6km/h, have all the bells and whistles you'd expect from the ultra modern alternative to the delivery boy's bicycle – low carbon footprint, autonomous operation, obstacle avoidance capability, mobile app tracking, and so forth.

The blurb explains [starship.xyz]:

Starship's robots can drive intelligently on the sidewalks at pedestrian speeds. They know their location and can navigate their way through an area with perfect precision all whilst seamlessly merging with pedestrian traffic.

The robots can detect obstacles, adjust speed or stop and safely cross the streets.

Additionally, Starship's robots are monitored by human operators who can, at any time, take control over the device and view the world through the robot's eyes, communicating with people around it if necessary.

Original Submission