As the coronavirus pandemic continues to severely impact the way we conduct our daily lives, with nightly 12-hour curfews and other restrictions, Reuters reported on Monday that e-commerce giant, Amazon.com Inc had announced that Amazon Prime Air, its special service delivering packages in 30 minutes or less, had received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin testing delivery orders using autonomous drones.
This announcement comes in the wake of the fastest-growing and most competitive market in robotics, the autonomous delivery robot (bot). With the enforced lockdown confining citizens, there have been exponential increases in the use of bots to deliver medication, groceries, and restaurant fare in urban areas in the developed world, much to the relief and benefit of senior citizens, persons with physical challenges and shut-ins. These bots, already in operation prior to the pandemic, in hospitals, universities, airports and large corporate campuses, of course, are not susceptible to the virus like their human counterparts, delivery drivers.
The application of autonomous robots is the latest link in the development of the delivery chain of products to consumers. Its inevitable expansion is likely, at some point in the future, to have a huge and devastating effect on the labour market, particularly delivery services as currently configured.
Before the advent of refrigeration, the motor car, and the supermarket, farmers delivered fresh produce to their customers using hand-pushed or animal-drawn carts. In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward conceived the dry goods, mail-order business aimed at the rural consumer. The business eventually evolved from a 10,000-item catalogue, the famous “Wish Book,” into a chain of retail stores scattered across the United States, supported by a network of large distribution centres. At that point, the only visionaries to predict the development and use of robots in the distribution of products and services were writers of science fiction, who, more often than not, were dismissed as being off kilter.
Whilst the drones are being tested, the current state-of-the-art delivery robots often bear a resemblance to an industrial floor power washer on six wheels and is sometimes accompanied by a minder (human being), as the technology facilitating the navigational functions is still being perfected. Using a combination of cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence, data processors and GPS, the delivery robot navigates its way to the appointed drop-off location. As the race among competitors to develop the perfect robot for the market continues, the inevitable occasional mishaps and accidents occur from time to time, all part of the teething process.
Delivery robots, no doubt, will remain part of the ‘new normal’ once the pandemic has passed. And since any major change in the way we live is addressed with suspicion, there will be a plethora of questions. Will the sidewalks and avenues of the future be congested with delivery robots? Will the larger models of robots be allowed the use of the roads and highways? What happens if the robot gets involved in an accident? What insurance laws have to be drafted? What other regulations and by-laws have to be enacted for this new area of development? More questions will arise as time progresses and other spin-offs take place.
How soon will we see the application of delivery robots in Guyana? The current state of our roads and our electricity supply (SN editorial 25/08/20) certainly do not augur well for that activity. However, if the coronavirus has taught us anything, it is that nothing is impossible. Who knows, the buzzing sound you may hear overhead in few months’ time could very well be a drone delivering your daily newspaper.
