Starship Technologies’ robot got lost on its way to delivering goods for a customer. (Image Credit: Matthew McCormack/Twitter)
I love the idea of a lost robot. Sounds like a Pixar movie concept.
On May 15th, Matthew McCormack, a British history professor, took a little bike trek in the Northampton woods, where he came across a robot rolling through the area. Of course, he then took matters into his own hands and ultimately decided to take a picture as it moved along. Everyone loved the robot as it started gaining more social media attention, reminding us a bit about Wall-E with its small frame and harmless intentions.
The robot’s objective wasn’t to help dentists train or take a homeless person’s temperature to monitor COVID. Rather, the Starship Technologies robot was assigned a specific task: delivering groceries across town. The robot completed its delivery, but it’s not known if the recipient was aware of the attention it gathered. “On my bike ride this morning, saw a delivery robot list in the woods,” McCormack posted on Twitter. Starship Technologies responded by tweeting, “Not lost, simply on an adventure!”
These robots, which took off during the COVID-19 pandemic as a home delivery solution in Northampton, typically trek to their destination on pavements rather than through a forest. Although not many people use the delivery bots, they’re still rampant in the town. People generally have a great encounter with them due to their humanization qualities. That’s because Starship designed them to be approachable by humans.
As a result, Starship robots are treated like puppies or a mascot. In this case, people can’t hold back from seeing them and have created social media pages as a tribute.
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