Photo: Courtesy Chris Brief
Kiwikbot autonomous delivery robot in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh
An autonomous delivery robot drove onto a street in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. As noted in the social media post, sometime in the week beginning September 5, Kiwibot delivery robots will be moving around the Bloomfield sidewalk. Kiwibot is a robotics company based in Medellín, Colombia with a US office in California.
According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, Kiwibot plans to start a six-month pilot with one or two robots in June to increase the number of robots. The robot looks relatively small, is about 2 feet high, is semi-autonomous and can independently recognize people, traffic lights, vehicles and other obstacles. Business Times .. In addition, human operators can remotely control any bot within 1.5 miles of an established operational monitor.
“We’ve been (in Pittsburgh) a long time,” said Diego Valera, COO of Kiwibot. Business Times .. Valera added that Kiwibot has asked companies in the Bloomfield area if they are interested in working with the company on delivery inquiries. “We did a couple of things about the city mapping, about the area we want to do business with. We have been working with cities for a few weeks. This idea. Is to complete the plan. Start some delivery schedules for local trade. ”
Autonomous delivery robot legalized in Pennsylvania in November 2020. Under state law, technically classed as a pedestrian and able to move around sidewalks, Pennsylvania Personal Delivery Device (PDD) Method Arguably one of the least restrictive in America. PDDs in the state can weigh up to 550 pounds and travel up to 12 miles per hour.
OMG what should i do? Is that getting in the way or what? pic.twitter.com/sA67ksS6cO
– 𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗺 (@chrisbriem) September 9, 2021
According to a video posted by University of Pittsburgh economist Chris Briem, the kiwibot appears to be moving much smaller than the £ 550 limit and moving much slower than 12 mph. The robot filmed in Briem’s video was moving along Winebiddle Street in Bloomfield towards Penn Avenue.
Yet autonomous delivery robots are not without resistance. The state’s PDD law was passed largely with Republican support, and many Democrats disapproved of the law as a murderer. At a community meeting in April, Bloomfield residents voiced concerns about robots, from unemployment to possible damage to robots on poorly maintained sidewalks.
City officials said in April that Kiwibot agreed to take full responsibility for equipment damaged during the pilot program, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
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