It can be difficult for pedestrians to cross city streets with SUV drivers speeding by. But what about robots that are less than two feet tall? Starship Technologies has begun to flood college towns with electric delivery robots that can transport goods to your destination in locked storage. Although safety is still a concern for large autonomous vehicles, this time the roles were reversed. TikTok video by rach.ipsa shows that even just a few lights, radar, ultrasonic sensors and neural networks were not enough to prevent this robot from being clipped by a Ford Escape.
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It appears that the robots defense was successful. This video was taken at the University of Kentucky. Starship Technologies stated that it is expanding its operations to this fall. It is inevitable that there will be dust-ups when you combine unfamiliar robots with faculty and students who have been absent from campus for over a year.
The delivery bot may have retreated onto the sidewalk, despite having a few broken wheels. However, it is not clear if any damage was done to the vehicle with which it collided. It's not always easy to work with insurance companies, so it is hard to imagine how they will respond if someone bumps into a robot. A Starship robot struck a Frisco woman's car last September and caused $2,600 damage. According to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth she discovered Starship had video footage of the incident but couldn't get a copy or receive additional responses.
Initially, her insurance company said she was responsible for the deductible. However, Starship Technologies was contacted by the media outlet and the robot operators were reportedly reimbursed. Starship Technologies declined to comment on the situation or the status the robot. Our robot friend was still hurt when he was hit by a garbage truck in an alleyway.
