NBC’s March 10, 2017 report described Starship delivery robots as remotely operated and accompanied by human handlers. It placed the Washington launch on Thursday, March 9. For this March 11 weekend retrospective, the important distinction is between that reported arrangement and the company’s goal of robots guiding themselves from restaurant to customer. [nbc]

Draw the operating model with separate labels. The robot carries the order. A remote operator controls it from elsewhere; an accompanying handler is physically present on the trip. NBC establishes both human roles, but does not specify every division of responsibility between them. Its quoted company description puts the delivery radius at two miles and payload at up to 20 pounds, not an unlimited operating range. [nbc]

Now add sensing to the robot’s label. Washingtonian’s March 10 account described sensors, GPS and nine cameras, along with stopping when someone stands ahead. Those details explain how the machine was described as detecting its surroundings. They do not demonstrate that it completed a route without remote control. An onboard response to a pedestrian and human involvement in the journey can coexist. [washingtonian][nbc]

Put self-guided travel in a separate box marked as a goal. To move it into the description of actual operation would require evidence about completed trips and when humans intervened. Neither a camera count nor an accompanying person’s presence supplies that record. This reading distinguishes functions; it does not certify pedestrian safety or assign a measured level of autonomy to the service. [nbc][washingtonian]

Source documents

  1. Delivery Robots Are Here and Ready to Take Over DChttps://washingtonian.com/2017/03/10/delivery-robots-are-here-and-ready-to-take-over-dc/
  2. Robots Could Change the Face of Food Deliveryhttps://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/robots-could-change-face-food-delivery-n731356