Hyundai Motor Group has announced the launch of a robotic delivery pilot project. As planned by the South Korean company, an autonomous robot courier is able to significantly speed up the logistics of the last mile, that is, delivery to the final recipient.
The Hyundai pilot project involves two courier robots – one of them offers its services to guests of the Seoul Rolling Hills Hotel, delivering food, drinks and essentials, and the other works in a residential / commercial complex on the outskirts of the South Korean capital. Electronic deliveries are built on a modular Plug & Drive (PnD) platform, on top of which is a block for storing goods. Also, each robot is equipped with a screen that displays information for customers.
Courier robots based on the PnD platform move in a completely autonomous mode thanks to built-in cameras and LiDAR sensors and are able to rotate 360 ​​degrees. The robot can build the optimal route for delivering packages to recipients and is able to recognize stationary and moving objects, smoothly bypassing them, and when moving between floors, it determines the number of people getting into the elevator and will wait for the next elevator if the first one is full.
The hotel digital delivery driver uses a special algorithm based on deep machine learning to recognize the environment and people, avoiding collisions even in the narrow corridors of the hotel. The robot “enters” the room by recognizing the open door, and as soon as it notices the recipient, it automatically opens the storage compartment in front of him.
And the second courier robot was launched jointly with the Korean delivery service Woowa Brothers. He delivers food on the outskirts of Seoul. The shopper places their online order through the Baemin app, and the robot finds the right item in the mall and delivers it to the user’s front door. The robot can enter the residential complex and go up to the upper floors by communicating with the elevator control system.
Based on the pilot test results, Hyundai plans to upgrade its PnD-based delivery robots and gradually increase the number of e-deliveries.
Source: Trash Box
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