Name: DeliveryBot
Year: 2071
Title: Delivery Bot
Short: "A short-range mail delivery robot from Electrobras/Brazil: the Velocista SR703-S/I with interaction function and 10 kg load capacity."
Headline: "Delivery Bot: Short range postal deliver robot. Velocista SR703-S/I"
Post: "2071 Delivery Bot. Recife/Brasilien.. A short-range mail delivery robot from Electrobras/Brazil: the Velocista SR703-S/I with interaction function and 10 kg load capacity... more: http://jmp1.de/e2071"
Image: en_DeliveryBot.jpg
Postimage: en_DeliveryBot.jpg
Author: Heiner Wolf
Translation: Rosmarie Wolf, Heiner Wolf
Tags: [Robot, Bot, Walker, Postal Service, Packet, Automation, AI]
Topics: [things]
Text: |
    A short-range mail delivery robot from Electrobras Brazil: the Velocista, SR703S-I, with interaction function and 10 kg load capacity.
    The robot is about one meter high. It has a 30x30 cm platform for delivery. Underneath there is a small cuboid body with a control unit, battery and three multi-functional articulated arms. Its two 80 cm long legs end in the usual sensor/actuator tripods. The arms are supposed to hold the package on the platform. They can also press buttons, communicate via audio, push door handles, and remove obstacles. 
    Everybody is used to online shopping. Virtual reality and immersion make visiting physical stores largely unnecessary. Even everyday purchases, such as groceries, are done online. This has led to a strong increase in individual parcel shipments. On average, each apartment unit receives 5.3 deliveries daily. Hence, a city of one million inhabitants has several million deliveries every day, one billion per year. Such a high volume allows for optimizations unknown in the past. Synergy effects make shipping cheaper. For most goods shipping costs are included. 
    The last 10 meters is the biggest cost factor. A driver who gets out of his van, picks up a package, rings the doorbell, waits, walks up the stairs and finally hands over the package needs several minutes for each delivery. This is not affordable. That is why the delivery of the last 10 meters has been automated by robots. 
    Today, no human walks up to the apartment door anymore. This part has been taken over by short-distance delivery bots. A parcel transporter drives stop front of an apartment building. A swarm of delivery bots jumps out each balancing a package on its platform. The bots run to the front door, ring the bell, or use the supplier code of the locking system to enter. Then they sprint up the stairs to the apartment door. On their way they read door signs and barcodes and electronic signaling devices. In modern residential complexes the bots push their parcel through the supplier flap. In old fashioned apartments, they interact audiovisually with the recipient or leave the package with their neighbors. 
    After delivering their packages, the bots run back to the vehicle. They hook up to the power supply and fetch the package for the next stop.