BBC
"And you will notice I always smile and I do not even expect a tip!"
They cannot be more dangerous than the kids and others riding their e-bikes and e-scooters at speed on the pavement. Other than that, I like the notion of a robot being "friendly". It would be worrying if they had been programmed to be hostile, rude and aggressive, I suppose - there is a limit to how human you want them to be.
Given the shoplifting epidemic affecting the UK - largely ignored by the police, who seem to have better and more interesting things to do, overall - I wonder how viable those robots will be. I mean, if you are homeless and/or a petty delinquent, and you see an Uber Eat delivery robot moving slowly and ponderously past you, there must be the temptation to rip the lid off and take whatever there is inside. If you cannot eat it there and then, you can always sell it on.
Will they deploy enforcement robots to patrol the streets and protect the delivery robots? Or, maybe, the delivery robots are fitted with defence mechanisms. For instance, if someone tries to open the machine by force, the aggressor gets electrocuted, or the robot extends an articulated arm and smacks the offender in the face.
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In the UK, where delivery robots are being piloted in a number of cities, some locals have taken matters into their own hands. There have been reports of Uber Eats vehicles being vandalised in Sheffield.
The supplier of these machines, Starship Technologies, says they are perfectly safe and that perceptions need to change.
"We know it's a new experience for a lot of people to share a pavement with a robot," says the company's European operations director Danny Pass.
"But the robots are friendly, they're polite and they're programmed to be careful. They've slotted into everyday life in loads of communities since we started out in the UK back in 2018."
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