A glimpse into the future is cruising around the streets of Dubai. Delivery robots might still seem futuristic, but experts believe that autonomous robots like these could be commonplace in the not-too-distant future. But don’t worry, they won’t take over the world.
What makes a good delivery robot? The chances are you’ve never stopped to consider it. Thankfully, someone else has and his name is Layth Mahdi. He’s a senior robotics engineer at Dubai Future Labs, where he specializes in autonomous systems. According to him: “A good delivery robot is an efficient, autonomous robot that delivers objects from point A to point B without any intervention or problem.”
At the moment, the delivery robots are programmed to move along the sidewalks in Dubai, reducing traffic on the streets and the reliance on human couriers. They deliver goods such as food, groceries and medication, and promise to not only make the delivery operation smoother, but reduce the final cost for the consumer. This is at the heart of what Dubai Future Labs is doing, promising to “develop new technology that provides solutions to modern problems in the 21st-century world.”
“Humanity has always developed tools,” explains Khalifa Al Qama, Executive Director of Dubai Future Labs. “Robots are a sub-segment of new tools that humanity is still learning how to utilize for the betterment of society.”
The delivery robot is just one of Future Labs’ unique creations. They have robots that can fly and robots that can talk, robots filling human roles – like delivery – and robots designed to do things that humans never could. Their work is united by its innovation.
The team are now on their third version of the delivery robot. Earlier iterations were larger and heavier, which was not just unnecessary but excluded one part of the population who were particularly keen to interact with the robots: children.
“During testing, we found that kids wanted to interact with the robots, but they were initially designed taller than accessible for kids,” Layth Mahdi said. “We’ve lowered the lid and everyone can enjoy that experience.”
Powered by an electric motor, the delivery robots are able to independently locate charging stations when they need more juice. They roll onto a pad and charge standing up, before continuing on their way and negating the need for any human involvement.
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Technology as impressive as this begs one obvious question: will robots take over the world? Mahdi says no. “We will be side by side,” he smiles. “We humans tend to fear something we don’t usually control.”
Khalifa Al Qama is even more emphatic, confident robots will assist rather than replace humans. “Every single one of us does multiple tasks in a day. There are certain tasks that are more accurate with a robot, or better to be done with a robot because they are mundane. [Robots] will improve what we can do, and maybe even let us do more.
“It’s really simple and we have to keep it simple.”
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