Do Delivery Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?
Well, it's Monday.
Monday is the day I write about logistics, my area of expertise.
Today, I'm planning to write about delivery robots.
Sagawa Express News Release
The news release itself was from December 2023, but it's news that I only just came across because Nikkei picked it up in April, but...
It seems Sagawa Express is going to conduct field tests for a cargo-loading robot equipped with AI.
The project itself seems to have started last December, but the field tests will begin this August (or so it was written in Nikkei). Looking at this photo, it seems to be a mechanism where a conveyor belt is extended into the cargo space of a truck, and a robot arm is attached to the tip of that conveyor belt, which then stacks the cargo in order (presumably by suctioning it with air pressure). In this photo, the driver's seat is at the back, and it seems to stack from the back to the front, with the AI determining the size and weight to stack them without gaps, putting heavy items on the bottom and light items on top.
It's hard to say anything based on just this little bit of information, but...
I have a feeling that it will be a while before it can be used for delivery vehicles, and perhaps it will start with large trucks for trunk line transport first. After all, with this setup, you can only stack from the back to the front.
What is the status of delivery robots?
Come to think of it, I wonder what's going on in the delivery robot industry.
A quick search brings up the news released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry exactly one year ago: "Robots will be driving on public roads starting April 2023!"
Ten years ago (as far as I know), I think only ZMP was working on delivery robots in Japan, but now I get the impression that there are eight companies (with robots capable of going on public roads). Moreover, major companies like Rakuten, Honda, and Panasonic are also entering the market. Since the entry of major companies can involve the government and speed things up, it seems that it has really gotten much closer to practical use in the last few years.
That said, the current operation method for delivery robots from any company is the same: the robot drives itself to the road near the delivery destination, and once the robot stops, the end user must go and pick up the product themselves. It might seem like a delivery locker, but since you can't leave a delivery robot on the road for hours, the end user has to specify a delivery time and pick it up on time.
Will end users find it attractive?
In that case, "leaving it at the door" is easier.
Or perhaps end users would feel more comfortable using a delivery locker (where they can pick it up whenever they want).
...In that sense, I think robot delivery for pizza meets a need.
That's because end users also want to receive pizza while it's piping hot. I think I'd like to try using this too. (Though, if it came to my front door, I feel like I might be a little embarrassed...)
Amazon was heading in an unexpected direction
Come to think of it, I wondered what happened to Amazon, so I looked it up.
There was talk of a six-wheeled autonomous delivery robot (Scout) before, but there was an announcement in 2022 that they were stopping the tests. The public relations department seems to have commented that it "didn't meet customer needs," but that's understandable.
However, when I dug a little deeper, some unexpected news came up.
A bipedal humanoid robot.
Well, this is more like Amazon, isn't it?
A bipedal robot leaving products at the front door, unlocking the auto-lock of an apartment building, getting on the elevator, and leaving it at the door before returning...
I feel like that kind of future is also close.
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