The world’s first fleet of fully autonomous delivery robots has been unveiled by deep tech start-up Ottonomy. Developed for the restaurant and retail industries, the ‘Ottobots’ use contextual mapping and cutting-edge navigation technologies to operate in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Pilots of the autonomous delivery robots started running during 2020, with the initial robot delivery rollout helping to gain additional insight from user experience to develop the program even further.
Now, taking their bow on the world stage for the first time at the CES 2022 event at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Ottobots are ready to change the order delivery game of the restaurant and retail industries.
This technology really could be the solution certain restaurants and retail businesses have been searching for in the wake of the ongoing pandemic.
Meet the Ottobots – First Autonomous Delivery Robots for Restaurants and Retail Business
Ottonomy’s development of the autonomous delivery technology has been greatly helped by several partnerships, including CVG Airport in Cincinnati where the Ottobots have been delivering retail and food items. Additional pilot programs have also been recently added to Newlab at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. Even one of America’s leading providers of restaurant automation technologies, Presto, have started using Ottobots to deliver food ordered by their restaurant guests.
Smaller businesses with staffing and serving issues due to the pandemic may do well to take note of the quick uptake of this technology among leading tech firms.
The future is even brighter for Ottonomy thanks to a strategic partnership with ARO, a global leader in robotic management and operations. ARO will support Ottonomy during the nationwide rollout over the next 18 months, helping with daily operations and lifetime management of the robotic fleet.
The CEO of Ottonomy, Ritukar Vijay, was excited to unveil the Ottobots at his company’s first CES event, and said: “The pandemic has provided Ottobots a catalyst enabling a series of partnerships that allowed us to launch fully autonomous delivery for indoor deliveries, curbside deliveries and last-mile deliveries.”
How Ottobots Work
Ottobots are programmed with a digital map of the serviceable area where they will operate, with the live location being updated on the map while they are navigating autonomously during order deliveries. It is a proprietary contextual mobility navigation software developed by Ottonomy that enables Ottobots to navigate through environments even when they are crowded and unpredictable.
The autonomous delivery program is highly scalable and flexible, and comes with a comprehensive suite of tools for managing a fleet of robots operating across a variety of different geographies.
The success of the Ottobot rollout has seen Ottonomy recognized by Robotics Business Review as among the top 50 robotics companies worldwide in 2021. The company also won Plug & Play Accelerator’s Mobility Startup Award, as well as the Business Intelligence Group’s Sustainability Product of the Year Award for 2021.
This article, "Meet the Ottobots – The First Autonomous Delivery Robots for Restaurants and Retail Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends
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Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead, Khareem Sudlow
