The secret behind these autonomous delivery robots
Serve Robotics operates a state-of-the-art, AI-powered, autonomous fleet of delivery robots in Los Angeles. And they have big plans to expand. But this autonomous revolution is still very much powered by humans. Here’s a rare look behind the scenes. Presented by Meta for Work #AI #Technology
Read more: www.theverge.com/e/23694419
0:00 Introduction
00:35 Who is Serve Robotics?
02:17 Chasing a delivery
04:29 The people behind the scenes; Remote supervisors
06:59 Field agents
08:09 The future of autonomy
10:54 the man behind viral Tikoks IRL
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Would you want your next take-out meal delivered by robot? Why or why not?
Yes because it would be cool to see
I recently stayed at a hotel with a delivery robot that delivered me a spare phone charger I neglected to pack. I was so impressed that I followed it from my hotel room, back down the hall, down an elevator, and into its charging dock by the check-in desk. Very intriguing!
Very cool
I am as well and would have done the same thing.
Where was the hotel?
@@yulianamiranda6253Le Méridien Xiaojing Bay
I honestly don’t get why people are this interested in them (I’m not hating on the robots)
Shirzan 🤖: just minding its own business. Andrew 🧔♂️: David Attenborough moment. ‘Here, in the urban jungle…’”
🤖: Shirzan to homebase, yeah, the same dude is still following me for the past hour. I'm uploading pictures of him and my route for the police just in case.
love the last bit. i mean how would he know. its just so natural to anthropomorphize autonomous behaviours like that. maybe he is right but I think there is going to be a wave of treating robots like wildlife or something.
10:38 this could have been a bicycle trip as well if infrastructure made any sense in the North America, but big companies aren't going to make as much profit of that I guess.
In a lot of places, here in the states they are. LA is probably one of the worst cities on the car dependency front. But I imagine these robots could more than easily use bike lanes and bike infrastructure instead of clogging the sidewalks. I’ve seen a few of their competitors, starship technologies little 6 wheelers, and they seem to do a similar job, though like these robots the biggest issue is the unpredictability of their behaviour. And probably will be for some time.
I live in the Hollywood area. A few times when I order from Uber Eats I’ve gone the option of whether or not I want an autonomous robot to do the delivery. So far I haven’t had any of my deliveries done by robot just because right now there’s a lot of construction in the area and I wasn’t sure How the robot would handle it. But maybe next time when I order something and I get the option I might just have the robot deliberate. The issue of having a lot of cars on the road delivering one or 2 pound items, this would be one of those times where people having electric bikes to do the deliveries would make sense. About a third of the time when I order something it’s usually someone on a bike.
Man these robots are terrible. People delivery food rely on the income that comes from it. Robots hurt us
excited to see zipline take off (pun intended) . I think aerial delivery is going to be less complex than dealing with urban environments
Imagine if they replaced cars by… building public transportation 🤯
Horrible
Jacapo is Meta’s most insidious creation yet
Cute Robo Era is Coming through!!! Better than Sadistic Terminator Robo Design!!! 👍🏻😎👍🏻
Terminator was never gonna happen
@@quantumblauthor7300 That's Creepy Robo Movie!!! 💥😱💥
Now imagine if these robots could do double-duty as both dog walkers and food delivery.
😂somebody's tired of walking her dog everyday
A Toronto company did exactly that. They have delivery robot and started testing dog walking.
Save a lot of people shoulder surgeries
Pretty cool. So much potential with robotics.
This is amazing and interesting
presented by meta with a sponsored segment pretty meta
Meta the company?
delivery robot’s natural predators: porch pirates
Cream hoodie is crazy 🔥
We had these in one of our local stores (Lucky) a year or so ago. They pulled them when the robot company shut down.
I like the idea of replacing car trips. But I'll hope cities are designed to need less delivery services in general.
Hey, is it possible to buy one robot? I would like to use it in Deliveroo for myself.
Probably better than getting robbed while doing deliveries But who will prevent thieves and hackers from taking these robots over
GPS, cameras, alarm, .. electric shock? 😅
By having up to date security.
Lioness and Spring! ;) Go Ali!
It's still very early. Much to slow for anything but walking distance. Will it replace the electric bike delivery? Only time will tell.
This is not a new concept. We have had robots delivering food and groceries in Milton Keynes, UK for a long time (years)
USA also have them for years.
Jacopo could get it
I'm skeptical if this will be the future of goods transportation even for "the last mile". The most major downside is its speed. It cannot move faster than a pedestrian while on the sidewalk. If it moves faster, cities will require them to be used on roads similar to on demand scooters. In addition, there always needs to be a sidewalk for the travel to occur. We know for certain that there's always a road to travel to a customer, but there isn't necessarily a accessible sidewalk. Most importantly, travel via road or air is the fastest way to deliver goods. People will always prefer speed.
Speed, Cost, Convenience. Pick two. There are other things people value. They seem to be designing them to be able roll on grass or off-road to some the degree without knobby tires. What it's missing is some kind of arm to right itself if it falls or is knocked over. The perfect customer would probably be an elderly person who regularly needs prescription deliveries, weekly or daily groceries.
@@KenFromchicago Good framework. AVs should become pervasive in the next 5-10 years. AV companies that are successful in solving AVs will have a less technically challenging problem of developing smaller AVs strictly for the transportation of goods on the same roads. In this reality, customers will get speed (because it travels on roads at auto speeds), cost (it may not be as cheap as this robot to produce, but it should be operationally cheaper since EV auto maintenance is minimal). Convenience is more arguable because AVs on the road can move faster than AVs on the sidewalk, but AVs on the road can't bring an item to your door. I'd guess that it's not necessary to solve for door to door delivery yet. Regardless of my beliefs, the winning solution will need to be economically superior by considering cost of manufacturing, cost of servicing per month (or other time frame), revenue per month. Revenue will be determined by price of delivery and speed of delivery. If each delivery costs $10 but take on average 1hr to complete, at most a robot makes $240 per day. If each delivery cost $5 but took an average of 15m to complete (by using a different tech strategy), it will make $384 per day.
It’s unlikely this robot would be used for last-mile delivery unless the recipient is at the destination to pick up the package. An advantage this bot has is less regulatory hurdles since it’s slow speed.
@@hi-gf5yl If not last-mile, then what would it be used for? I agree with the current advantage of less regulatory hurdles.
@@thesadboxman the robot cannot unload itself so it has to wait for the consumer to do it. This reduces its utilization. Goods that can be delivered when the customer is home are the only types of deliveries it can handle; this may be solved by timing it. The short battery range might make it only suitable for short distances. It cannot handle packages larger than its compartment.
I guess the next step is to give them personalities. I bet most people will give assistance if a robot gets tipped or stuck and calls out for help. Maybe bad people will stop harassing robots if they show human traits like saying excuse me, hello or thank you. Who knows?
I'm curious to see how many of those things are gonna get stolen 😅
These strollers are the worst possible architecture for last mile delivery. What we need are quadrupeds like Boston Dynamics Spot. They can then navigate sidewalks, stairs and more.
I liked the lady watching them she seemed cool
How many dogs went to the bathroom on them?
Yeah right! We're happy at level 4 they are heading for level 5 and 6 and maybe end up at level 11
In a coutry were their is huge robberies and gun violence does it makes sense
Nobody's gonna steal your McDonald's order at gunpoint, KPZivot. You can walk and salvage your burger from the ruins all by yourself.
Poor guys. I feel so sad when they get harassed. 😔
With a playstation controller? What can go wrong?
Welp, I'm glad my 2 pound burrito isn't piloted to me using a Logitech controller at least
There's not enough cars on the road that we also need more stuff on wheels on the sidewalk... WHERE IS PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO WALK then?
Hey Karen, there's more then enough room on the for a slow moving delivery robot.
@@NextNate03this thing will absolutely not yield for a wheelchair. I guarantee it, and I guarantee it didn't cross your mind until I mentioned it.
@@quantumblauthor7300 Does not seem that way in the video. Good thing they have a Robot Supervisor watching the robots.
We don't need these things going down our sidewalks
interesting story, thx. actually not a fan of meta tho..
cool concept, stupid name, eventually we're gonna be immersed in AI and droids so definitely looking forward to it!
In a quirky little town, there was a peculiar character named Alex who had a rather odd infatuation with a car named "Beepster," a rusty, old, and comically dilapidated vehicle that looked like it belonged in a junkyard rather than in a garage. Alex often claimed that Beepster had a personality and would engage in lengthy conversations with the clunky contraption, asking it for relationship advice or even inviting it to dinner dates (although it never showed up). One day, while attempting to propose to Beepster, Alex realized that his love life had truly hit rock bottom when the car's horn honked in a seemingly enthusiastic "yes." Little did he know, his neighbors had played a prank on him, wiring the horn to a remote control. It was a bizarre and uproarious tale of love, laughter, and the ultimate realization that a car might not make the best life partner after all.
Cargo bikes too please
Once they get faster and smarter, I believe it will replace human delivery altogether. I don’t trust delivery people with my food and I hate the tipping culture this nation has become with just about everything.
Right
But you trust a robot that rolls tantalizingly unattended for miles, at the whims of ... Also your fellow humans?
They look nothing like wall-e lol
The average person doesn't know c3po from r2d2
Is the a The Verge video sponsored by Meta?!
Apparently
@@nichpak1 so also no more independent journalism?
Is this your first time seeing ads
@@sullivan4052 it's not an ad
@@marc.roelofsis this the only independent journalism you know how to find, lol?
Has anyone in tech ever heard of induced demand? If you take cars off the road more will fill the gap. The only way to fix these things is to disincentivise car travel and provide public transport alternatives, not with robots.
The robots are a way to disincentive vehicle traffic. Robots don't need public taxes, right away, zoning, major construction of rail tracks or hiring bus drivers, etc. Not that more public transit would hurt just that it takes more time and effort. There's multiple KZhead channels about making cities more walkable, more friendly to bikes, public transit and less dependent on cars. That requires a whole new mindset including building residential and commercial properties around public transit stops, etc. Europe have a lot of cities way less dependent on cars.
sounds like a government problem and not some startup doing robot food deliveries, strange comment
@@Nighthunt01there are lots of people in the KZhead comment section who probably hadn't even considered that public transport would improve traffic, that those two things are even related, until seeing this comment.
Prefer my vehicle over public transport, thanks. Doubt that will change in my lifetime. Too many lowlifes; takes too long, and can’t carry many things with you. Appreciate the public transport in Major cities in Japan however.
This video had the vibe of an enriched paid promotion pretending to be tech coverage.
It wasn't a technology question. It's a human behavior question! The thiefs will Rob the charge!
“presented by meta” ok dude…
These things will only work in nice neighborhoods lol
sounds like a privacy nightmare. Do the people in public know they're being watched?
key words: "public", "privacy"
I'm early yes.
Humans gonna break it every now and then. Lol 😂
Jump on top side for free transport 😅
Imagine more and more health problems because you rely on these bots to do everything in your life.
Have you seen Wall-e?
TikTok guy admitting that he fabricates a narrative is telling.
Oh come on what about snow what about ice what about terrible weather what about rain. 😂
Are these really autonomous? Delivery bots looking like this have existed for a decade or more and it turns out that they were just drones piloted by people in 3rd world countries making a dollar or two an hour.
What? Where?
Kiwibot in Berkeley was the first I've heard of that uses low wage remote labor to drive their robots while falsely proclaiming that they're autonomous. There's also an LA Times article titled "Who's driving that food delivery robot? It might be a Gen Z gamer" that lists several more. Most of these food delivery robots seem to be NOT autonomous but they lie to the public and investors saying that they are.
Watch the video, see 5:44
Imagine being a wheelchair user trying to share the sidewalk with one of these. I hate this from an urban planning & accessibility perspective.
Really? Because it feels to me that accommodating for these robots looks a lot like accommodating for wheelchairs. Decent urban planning can benefit both.
The problem is that they take up space wheelchair users need. I'd hate to meet one of these blocking a curb cut while I'm crossing a street in the opposite direction. Even if there's a human somewhere telling it to move and let me off the street, that's slower than me asking an actual person in the way to move so I can get to safety. Edit: not to mention, they're super unpredictable, which makes them hard to maneuver around when using a wheelchair. And that's not even getting into how they might get in the way of blind folks...
The robots are no wider than an adult or another person on a wheelchair. How do two people in wheelchairs in opposing directions manage? That said, yes, wider sidewalks would help.
Two people in a wheelchair have a conversation. "Oh, let me back up to a wider area." A robot just... Does something that you have to interpret correctly. Or sits there until you move out of its way.
@@eladnarra they said they have people monitoring the robots who can take control in emergencies. If the robot can't go around automatically, the human monitor can take control and manually move the robot out of the way.
Huh ...robots create more jobs then
Damn imagine that
Show off autonomy skills in Bengaluru, India and then I'll believe in autonomy
Except of course, our city banned these delivery robots.
This ain't filmrobotsla
I am fine with these but companies leveraging them to provide a service need to pay an automation tax to help cover the people out of a job for this, the sidewalks and infrastructure it uses for the robots, and the occasional incidents they cause requiring police or public services intervention.
Meta sponsored this? sold out I see
why not making it fly?
flying\hovering takes a lot of energy which limits range/payload capacity, unless it has wings, but that requires more infrastructure\more area for landing these thing can deliver up to something 50 lbs /a whole shopping carts worth of food. a flying drone usually can carry only 5 lbs
They already have drones like that.
Many reasons. Every reason
Can people use it to deliver drugs?
R we leaving in a tech utopia at this point, I mean imagine life in the 70s
Barely any real tech, definitely not a utopia
🌈👎😂
Please drop the CO2 lie.
This is terrible and no good because a lot of people rely on delivering food for income. This hurts food delivery drivers
META AS A SPONSOR .... YUCK!!!! Can you say need to broken up and evil corporation.....