Delivery services turning to robots

Robot activity surges during COVID-19 crisis. Robots can assemble automobiles, clean grocery stores, deliver foods and supplies, and do security patrols.

By

National News

April 28, 2020 - 10:11 AM

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The streets are empty of cars in Ann Arbor, but robot traffic is up.

Refraction AI’s robot restaurant food delivery service has seen demand increase by four times since the COVID-19 crisis shut down Michigan last month, and the company’s engineers are working furiously to expand the company’s small fleet of three-wheeled REV ‘bots.

Refraction is part of a surge in robot activity as the U.S. economy struggles to get back on track while maintaining self-distancing and exposing as few workers as possible in the workplace. The virus is accelerating robotics trends — from auto plant assembly lines to grocery store cleaning robots to security patrols — and that is likely to have enormous implications for the jobs of the not-so-distant future.

“This moment is a call to arms for robotics makers to really bring their technology to market that helps people. Particularly now in a time when there are so few options for doing tasks that we don’t want to put people at risk for,” said Refraction AI CEO Matthew Johnson-Roberson, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan with 20 years of experience in the robotics field.

Refraction autonomous REVs (Refraction Electric Vehicles) began restaurant food deliveries at the first of the year from four restaurants to a small group of beta customers within a 2-mile radius in downtown Ann Arbor.

With the state’s closure of in-restaurant dining and subsequent shelter-in-place order, Refraction’s customer list has ballooned to 400, taxing the startup’s five robots which have been hustling to and fro along the edges of abandoned city streets.

“A bunch of new restaurants have said we have to have delivery now. The big limiting factor is the number of robots we have,” said Johnson-Roberson, 36. “We’ve been working to expand to groceries, which is the more important need of the moment than takeout food.”

The shutdown has accelerated customers’ acceptance of robots as fear of COVID-19 has drawn them to technologies — think of the Zoom chat revolution — that they were unaware of before.

“It really changes consumer behavior across the board,” he said. “A lot of what we’re getting help with here is people getting comfortable with robots.”

That comfort has been reinforced with strict safety guidelines to mitigate virus spread. The robots are wiped down between every delivery; upon food delivery, customers can open the 5-foot tall robot’s door by phone instead of keypad; and the company has installed UV lights _ a coronavirus killer _ in the interior to disinfect the compartment and food.

With the added demand, the 15-person autonomous startup is looking to hire in these job-lean times. Some of its new employees come from the hard-hit restaurant industry.

“We’ve always thought about robotics as to how to improve people’s lives. It can do things people don’t want to do like bomb disposal robots, nuclear inspection robots,” said the robotics professor. “They’ve figured out a task that’s unpleasant for human beings and can do it better.”

One of those unpleasant tasks is cleaning grocery aisles after hundreds of patrons have filed through in a typical COVID economy day.

San Diego-based Brain Corp. is the world’s largest maker of autonomous navigation software for robotics giants like Minuteman, Tennant and Karcher. Its business has expanded as grocery retailers like Walmart have brought in more cleaning robots.

“As retailers are required to clean more frequently and deliver more cleaning coverage, BrainOS-powered autonomous floor care robots are providing 8,000-plus hours of daily work _ over 250,000 hours over the next 30 days _ that otherwise would have to be done by an essential worker,” said a company spokesperson. “This allows workers to focus on other tasks that are essential during this health crisis.”

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