FOOD DELIVERY ROBOTS IN THE US
In Jersey City, I saw a strange
box moving with us. As it moved, it maintained a reasonable distance from us,
stopped at the crossings, crossed busy traffic roads as the lights indicated a
safe crossing signal and arrived at the restaurant that had engaged it for a
food delivery assignment. Aanya, my granddaughter, told me this:-
“This is a robot. Pablo,
the man sitting at the concierge's place in our apartment block, calls it
“Johnny”. It delivers food. The restaurant man puts food in it, and he orders
it to move through a button. When it reaches the apartment block, people who
ordered get a message. They also get the code of its lock. You have to come
down to the place where Pablo sits, put the code and open the top to get your
food. Then ‘Johnny’ goes back to the restaurant to take more orders. It can see
and walk safely on roads, although it does not talk.”
Aanya made it very simple
for me. Later, I came to know many things about ‘Johnny’, the food delivery
robot.
Robots can be found throughout
the restaurant industry serving up customised burgers, pouring perfect cups of
coffee and even preparing fast-casual meals. Now they have arrived on the roads
to deliver food. These robots are designed to enhance production and increase
output while improving safety. A food delivery robot is an automated robot that
helps in last-mile delivery. It is engaged in providing food parcels to end
users without any human interaction. It is assembled with sensors that can
detect obstacles and travel from one location to another. This robot product
finds application in various end-user industries such as healthcare, retail,
and logistics.
These robots are going to render many thousands of people engaged in the food delivery industry in the U.S. and Europe idle. The reasons are obvious; they’re equipped with a combination of computer vision and GPS technology, moving at up to 4 miles per hour, and the day-to-day working costs nothing to the restaurant owners. These robots are capable of avoiding obstacles as they navigate towards the customer from a food establishment. These robots can deliver food and parcels up to 10 kg. I came to know that some bigger robots used by grocery stores can deliver up to 35 kg of load in one go.
In Jersey City, a restaurant
owner told me this:-
“If anyone wants to use the
robot, they need to download the delivery App. Once the customer orders the
food of his choice, a PIN is generated, and the service begins. The users are
able to track their deliveries and receive a message about the arrival of the
ordered food. When the service robot arrives at the destination, the restaurant
or the service provider sends a text message with a link. The recipient clicks
the link to unlock the food delivery robot. Apart from families, a vast section
of students and teachers on the campuses are using this robotic mode for
ordering food. Over the last few years, food delivery robots have appeared in a
number of cities and college campuses in the US. The labour shortages,
rise in the e-commerce industry, and the growing need for contactless services
are driving the food industry towards delivery robots. Post-pandemic trends
across the food industry for online ordering got accelerated with the extension
of ‘work-from-home’ culture and
consumers’ change in cooking habits. More and more people are joining the
ever-increasing number of those who order online food. These robots have
several benefits, such as accurate delivery and enhanced consumer experience.
And I tell you that Uber Eats has signed an agreement to use sidewalks for
automated robots to deliver food products or parcels to users. The food
industry faces difficulties in finding employees, and it is here that an
autonomous robot provides a great solution. These robots have a range of
security features, including cameras, GPS tracking, alarms and the ability to be
remotely piloted to ensure that deliveries or the robots themselves are secure
while they’re out and about. There are also environmental benefits to consider.
Most food delivery robots are electric, contributing to reduced carbon
emissions compared to traditional vehicle-based delivery methods.”
I came to know that the small
service robot has cameras embedded all around it, offering the robot a
360-degree view. The robot can even overcome a variety of obstacles to make its
deliveries. It can climb curbs by lifting its wheels one by one until it makes
its way up onto the sidewalk. It can also avoid collisions with people and
navigate around obstacles. The robot is designed to make short-distance
deliveries of small orders, the kinds of jobs that human delivery personnel
don’t want. I also came to know that one of the most well-known autonomous
robot companies in this area is Nuro. The company has signed an agreement with
CVS Pharmacy, Domino’s, FedEx and Kroger. Other companies like Avride, Starship
Technologies, Zipline, Serve Robotics, JD Logistics ( Chinese ), Ottonomy.IO,
Kiwibot, Cartken, Panasonic( Japanese ),
and many more have also made an impact in retail, distribution warehouses and
food delivery. As per information provided to me, the operating temperature of
a standard food delivery robot can be in the range of -25°C to 55°C. The robots
can run 10 to 12 hours on one charge. One can also engage these robots on rent, as
buying a food delivery robot can represent a financial hurdle, especially for
restaurants with limited profitability. The ADR industry is reaching a new
level of maturity. Regulatory frameworks are becoming clearer. Robots are
moving beyond college campuses into neighbourhoods, airports, and even
supermarkets. I was told that the price of a food delivery robot can vary from 12000
to 50,000 US dollars, depending on various factors like size, load carrying
capacity, battery life, and many other features. The price of a small basic
model could be around 15000 US dollars. I was also informed that food delivery
robots have arrived in many cities in Asia, including Dubai in the UAE.
( Avtar Mota )
PS
( All photos by Avtar Mota, taken in July 2025 in Jersey City)
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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