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Amazon starts testing its delivery robot

Retail

CIO Bulletin
2019-01-24

Amazon has released a video of its pilot delivery robot named Scout. In the video, you can see the robot cruising the pedestrian space at a brisk pace. It was about time the online retail giant made such an announcement.

The company has been using robotics but it has been mainly restricted to the company’s warehouse logistics. But this time it is looking to pilot Scout soon at a Snohomish County, Washington. The company is piloting the delivery robot as a last-mile delivery solution. The pilot solution will reportedly have six Scouts to begin with.

Eventually, such innovations in robotics can also take-up last-mile delivery from carriers like UPS and FedEx. The Scout is designed so that it can avoid pets, pedestrians and other objects that may hinder its glide over the footpath. The Scout has been developed at Amazon’s R&D lab in Seattle.

Although these robots are designed to reach their destination autonomously, these early models will be accompanied by Amazon employees for now. If the Snohomish County stint for Scout goes well, it is possible that soon Amazon may try the robots in more locations. The robots are expected to make the deliveries during the daytime between Monday and Friday in one of the neighborhoods of Snohomish County.