October 12, 2020, 07:18 PM
In the land of all things kawaii, Japan's postal service has unveiled a similarly adorable mail delivery robot.
Mail delivery robot
Japan Post Co. debuted the small DeliRo robot, which is about the size of a wheelchair, on Oct. 12 in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward.
The self-driving robot has in-built cameras and sensors, reported Japan Today, which allows it to navigate on sidewalks, cross traffic junctions and dodge utility poles.
In clips posted by various Japanese media online, several staff can be seen trailing the robot during one of its test runs.
These test runs first started on Sep. 18, and will last till end-October.
One of the tests involves the small robot making its way from a convenience store in a hospital, to a local post office, covering around 700m in 25 minutes.
郵便物、ロボットが走って届けます 公道で初実験 https://t.co/XYtGBOp8SG #日本郵便 が7日午前、国内初となる #配送ロボット の公道走行実験を公開しました。 日本郵便は約3年前からロボ実験を開始。将来は配送に活用したい考えですが、実現はもう少し先になりそうです。 （志）#ロボット pic.twitter.com/3n0vCdUySz
— 朝日新聞 映像報道部 (@asahi_photo) October 8, 2020
The DeliRo robot is able to carry a weight of up to 30kg, and can travel at speeds of up to 6km/h.
Parcels are stored in several compartments which open up on the robot's side.
Screenshot from KyodoNews / YouTube
The website of Japanese firm ZMP Inc., who developed the robot, shows that the robot apparently comes in other colours as well, though it is uncertain if they will be used by Japan Post Co.
Photo from ZMP Inc. website
Plans for it to be put to use in 2021
The robot, developed by Japanese firm ZMP Inc., was created with the idea of meeting the growing demand for contactless deliveries, especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The postal service currently aims to start putting the robots to use in fiscal 2021 — from the month of April onwards.
Although autonomous delivery robots are not allowed to travel on sidewalks without human monitoring as per current government regulations, these restrictions might be eased following the test run results.
According to Japan Today, the country is ramping up the usage of autonomous vehicles in order to compensate for the ageing population and labour shortage.
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Top photo from KyodoNews / YouTube
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