Starship pits self-driving delivery bot against drones

The robots only go up to four miles an hour and can navigate around pedestrians, but it's not clear how that offers any benefits over drones - other than that they may be widely available sooner.

It might not be long before your groceries are delivered by a robot that found its way to your house on its own. A startup called Starship Technologies, with offices in London and Tallinn, Estonia, has announced an autonomous ground delivery robot that promises to do everything that a delivery drone can do (and more), except from the ground and with a realistic chance of actually happening.

The robot, which as far as I can tell doesn't have a name, can carry the equivalent of two grocery bags (around 10 kilograms) up to 5 kilometers from a local hub or retail outlet.

Starship robot front and back

During delivery, shoppers will be able to track the robot's exact location in real time through a mobile app and on arrival only the app holder is able to unlock the cargo.

"Our vision revolves around three zeroes", said Heinla, "zero cost, zero waiting time, and zero environmental impact". "We want to do to local deliveries what Skype did to telecommunications." said Heinla said.

For businesses, Starship's technology eliminates the largest inefficiency in the delivery chain, the last mile. At this juncture the Starship robot is still being tested out and are meant to be used primarily in the suburban areas.

He explained: "With e-commerce continuing to grow consumers expect to have more convenient options for delivery - but at a cost that suits them. Our robots are purposely designed using the technologies made affordable by mobile phones and tablets - it's fit for goal, and allows for the cost savings to be passed on to the customer".

Starship could be up to 15 percent cheaper than current delivery services, according to the founders, who did not specify how much it would cost them to make each Starship.

Starship has confirmed plans to trial the bots in USA, UK, and other countries in 2016, so don't be alarmed if you spot one crawling across a pavement near you next year.