The Greek city of Trikala will be the first city centre in Europe ever to pilot the use of fully automated ‘delivery droids’.
According to AMNA, the ‘delivery droids’ are trained through the use of lasers and a charted route.
Constructed by the Italian firm YAPE, they are designed to follow a preset route, recognise obstacles in their path and modify their movements according to the movement of pedestrians, bicycles and other unpredictable factors.
The robot-like device was presented in the European programme SHOW by e-Trikala, the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (EPISEY) and the University of Geneva.
The aim of the pilot project is to test an innovative way to transport goods in city centres, taking into account traffic, time, electrical load and other technical data.
For their first task, the droids started at the “Elves’ Mill”, delivering letters written by children from the Elves’ Post Office to “Father Christmas”.
Their next task will be to negotiate the pedestrianised road of Asklipiou in the city centre to deliver mail, newspapers and small packages from suppliers to local shops.
At the moment, there are similar droids used inside controlled, indoor spaces and the aim is to see whether these droids can survive in a normal urban environment.
Source: AMNA
