Grocery delivery by robot? There are plans to bring it to Modesto
Self-driving robots shaped like coolers on six wheels and moving at a top speed of 4 mph may soon be delivering groceries to Save Mart customers in Modesto.
The grocery chain is working with San Francisco-based Starship Technologies to have the robots deliver food, groceries and packages, according to a city report and a draft agreement between Starship Technologies and the city.
The company needs Modesto’s permission for its robots to travel along city sidewalks and the public property that connects them, including crosswalks at intersections.
The City Council’s Economic Development Committee on Wednesday approved forwarding the draft agreement to the City Council for approval. Community and Economic Development Director Jaylen French said the council is expected to consider the agreement Tuesday.
Spokeswomen for Save Mart and Starship Technologies said the proposal was not far enough along for them to comment.
French said this is a pilot program, and it is the city’s understanding Save Mart is looking at starting with 19 robots making deliveries from its flagship store at Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue, which opened about a year ago in the Marketplace shopping center. He deferred to Save Mart regarding how soon this service could start.
The robots would deliver goods in an area bordered by McHenry Avenue to the west, Claratina Avenue to the north, Claus Road to the east and Briggsmore Avenue to the south, according to the draft agreement. The draft allows for as many as 30 robots operating at one time and includes deliveries from a second Save Mart, the one at Oakdale Road and Scenic Drive.
French said the robots are fully capable of navigating on their own but will be monitored remotely by humans who can take control if necessary.
Robot’s cargo bay is locked
Starship Technologies was founded in 2014 by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, two of the co-founders of Skype, the video chat company. Starship’s robots operate in several cities across the world and on university campuses, according to the company’s website. The universities include Purdue in Indiana, George Mason in Virginia and Northern Arizona University.
“Equipped with cameras, radar and other sensors, the robots navigate by matching their surroundings to digital maps built by the company in each new location,” according to a New York Times article about Starship and its robots.
The robots weigh about 65 pounds, can make deliveries within a 4-mile radius, and can carry three bags of groceries in their cargo bay. They also have a small flag to increase their visibility. The cargo bay is locked. The customer can track the robot’s progress with an app on his or her smartphone and unlock the cargo bay with the app.
Starship Technologies says on its website that its robots can make deliveries at a fraction of the cost of traditional delivery services.
French said Save Mart had been looking at this technology and accelerated its plans because of the new coronavirus pandemic. He said the Modesto-based grocery chain decided to launch the delivery service in its hometown and could expand the service to other cities.
Some people kick the robots
Starship says its robots reached 100,000 deliveries by August 2019 and had completed 5 million road crossings by November 2019, according to the company website. But that does not mean there have not been some incidents.
Starship co-founder Heinla told Business Insider, the financial and business news website, in June 2018 that some passersby have kicked the robots.
“Some people pass our robot and kick the robot a little bit,” Heinla told Business Insider. “That’s not really a problem I think, if people have such anger management techniques that’s fine by us, our robot just drives on.”
The robots are equipped with nine cameras, which allows them to record any would-be vandals or thieves, and sirens. French said city staff participated in a demonstration in Modesto of the technology and it worked well.
The one unknown, though, could be how the robots fare with Modesto traffic. Some of the city’s drivers are notorious for not yielding to people at crosswalks, let alone autonomous, self-driving robots.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
