Imagine a robot riding the elevator up your tower block, knocking on your door, and delivering the package you ordered an hour earlier: That’s the future of e-commerce in China.
Tech giant Alibaba Group sees a fleet of robots as a fast, reliable and relatively cheap way to fulfill the burgeoning demand for online shopping across China, the world’s largest consumption market.
In a big step towards hitting this goal, Alibaba is deploying 1,000 delivery bots across Chinese university campuses and urban communities this year. The bots, called Xiaomanlv or “small donkey” in Mandarin, can deliver about 50 packages at a time and as many as 500 boxes in one day, covering 100 kilometers on a single charge.
The bots pick up parcels at a local courier drop-off point and make their way to your building, trundling along sidewalks and in bicycle lanes. To be sure, they can’t navigate a flight of stairs yet, but the technology is steadily improving.
In the future, the bots could gradually replace forklifts in factories, dispose of medical waste in hospitals and even move luggage around airports.
The idea is that these bots will “learn” how to navigate obstacles safely in low-speed minor roads and cul-de-sacs, such as serving a college campus or within a housing estate. Damo Academy will analyze insights gathered from these early models and then upgrade the bots to be safe to maneuver even on public roads.