All I can think about is the Will Smith movie I Rpbot when the robots gain AI and decide to revolt.
"Walking robots deployed from self-driving vans to deliver mail parcels could be seen marching up to homeowners’ doorsteps as early as next year.
The experiment is the product of a new partnership between Ford Motor Co. and startup Agility Robotics Inc.
The companies are aiming to deploy early next year up to 100 autonomous Ford vehicles carrying a robot that can stand upright and walk from the van to front doors, said Agility Chief Executive Damion Shelton.
Ford spokesman Alan Hall said both companies intend to engage in a pilot program to test the autonomous delivery model together, but that a firm plan or timetable won’t be established until more research has been done.
Agility’s robots—resembling a headless human—have the ability to climb stairs and move across lawns, which should help them deliver packages of up to 40 pounds in the Ford partnership, Ford Chief Technology Officer Ken Washington wrote in a blog post.
Agility, founded in 2015 and based in Albany, Ore., has raised roughly $8 million in venture capital funding from investors such as Playground Global, Robotics Hub and the Sony Innovation Fund.
The partnership comes as Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford ramps up its ambitions in autonomous transportation with various technologies. In 2017, Ford said it would invest $1 billion in self-driving startup Argo AI over a five-year period. Last year, the company struck a deal with delivery startup Postmates Inc. to test self-driving vehicles for delivering groceries.
Ford posted a video of an Agility robot, named Digit, unfolding while being lowered from the tailgate of a Ford Transit Connect transport van parked in the driveway of a house.
Mr. Hall said the Ford vehicle model that could be used in trial deliveries isn’t set.
Few if any partnerships with a major U.S. corporation are testing upright delivery robots in public. Some startups and Amazon.com Inc. have been using robot fleets that carry goods inside rolling robots.
The Agility-Ford partnership will focus on mail parcel delivery, though other applications, such as grocery delivery, aren’t ruled out, Mr. Shelton said."
"Walking robots deployed from self-driving vans to deliver mail parcels could be seen marching up to homeowners’ doorsteps as early as next year.
The experiment is the product of a new partnership between Ford Motor Co. and startup Agility Robotics Inc.
The companies are aiming to deploy early next year up to 100 autonomous Ford vehicles carrying a robot that can stand upright and walk from the van to front doors, said Agility Chief Executive Damion Shelton.
Ford spokesman Alan Hall said both companies intend to engage in a pilot program to test the autonomous delivery model together, but that a firm plan or timetable won’t be established until more research has been done.
Agility’s robots—resembling a headless human—have the ability to climb stairs and move across lawns, which should help them deliver packages of up to 40 pounds in the Ford partnership, Ford Chief Technology Officer Ken Washington wrote in a blog post.
Agility, founded in 2015 and based in Albany, Ore., has raised roughly $8 million in venture capital funding from investors such as Playground Global, Robotics Hub and the Sony Innovation Fund.
The partnership comes as Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford ramps up its ambitions in autonomous transportation with various technologies. In 2017, Ford said it would invest $1 billion in self-driving startup Argo AI over a five-year period. Last year, the company struck a deal with delivery startup Postmates Inc. to test self-driving vehicles for delivering groceries.
Ford posted a video of an Agility robot, named Digit, unfolding while being lowered from the tailgate of a Ford Transit Connect transport van parked in the driveway of a house.
Mr. Hall said the Ford vehicle model that could be used in trial deliveries isn’t set.
Few if any partnerships with a major U.S. corporation are testing upright delivery robots in public. Some startups and Amazon.com Inc. have been using robot fleets that carry goods inside rolling robots.
The Agility-Ford partnership will focus on mail parcel delivery, though other applications, such as grocery delivery, aren’t ruled out, Mr. Shelton said."