Amazon announced the start of a pilot for its delivery robots, Wednesday. The announcement was accompanied by a cute video of “Scout” in action.
Amazon’s In-House Delivery Robot
Writing on Amazon’s “Day One” blog, Scout Vice Price Sean Scott said the robot is “the size of a small cooler, and rolls along sidewalks at a walking pace.” He revealed that it was developed in-house by Amazon.
The pilot consist of six Amazon Scout devices. They will deliver packages during daylight hours in the working week. While they will autonomously follow their delivery route, an Amazon employee will accompany them initially.
Orders can be placed normally, and the usual same day, one-day, or two-day delivery options apply for Prime members in Snohomish County, Washington, where the pilot is taking place. County Executive Dave Somers said: “We are delighted to welcome Amazon Scout into our community. Similar to Amazon, we are always looking for new ways to better deliver service to our residents. From the latest Amazon innovation to cutting edge technology, Snohomish County is a great place for entrepreneurial creativity.”
Meet Scout
The announcement was accompanied by a rather cute video of the robot in action. As you can see, the customer has to go to the robot and take their package out to complete delivery.
How does that thing not simply get high-jacked? Is it carrying just one person’s delivery? Otherwise, what protects the integrity of other deliveries? It just does not appear to be all that secure.