Oh, patents! Starship Robots (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Brought to you by the Finnish founders and designers of SKYPE, Starship robots are small 99% autonomous vehicle robots, able to operate within a 4-mile radius. These elegant little robots, equipped with sophisticated obstacle-avoidance technology, Lidar sensors, cameras and voiced interaction capacity, roll around sidewalks on 6 wheels, at pedestrian speed. They are 99% autonomous because their routes are always monitored by human remote operators, just in case something went wrong.

Starship robots deliver goods, food and packages, usually in less than 15 minutes, directly to ordering customers in those areas where vendors have contracted the fleets. This way, for example, at a corporate campus, no one wastes time waiting in line, or having to go to a restaurant. The robot meets the customer, upon demand, at a pinned location to deliver orders, sending notifications of estimated arrival time and arrival, via the Starship app, which also handles orders, payments, route tracking, and unlocking of the robot to access the payload. Alternatively, Starship robots also offer a sustainable ecommerce delivery option that decongests roads, where too many delivery vehicles are circulating to meet the ever increasing demands of online customers. In other words, in solving the “last mile” logistics of moving goods efficiently, and cost-effectively, the little electric vehicle robots also do their part to reduce global warming.

The YouTube video below shows an example of a Starship robot delivery. 

Prepandemic, the Starship fleet of 150 robots had driven more than 9000 miles, in 53 cities, in 16 countries, where they met with more than 1.2 million people. In the US, Starship also partnered with DoorDash, specialists in delivery services. 

During the pandemic, the demand for delivery robots such as the Starship robots skyrocketed, according to Forbes.com contributor, Bernard Marr, on May 29, 2020.  Social distancing orders and the lockdown were the primary reasons for the exponential increase in demand, since the driverless robots (which never get sick) can deliver contactless service (e.g.; groceries, take-out food, prescriptions, or small parcels etc.) directly to clients, sheltering-at-home. Considering the convenience, Marr even predicted that Starship robots, and other similar delivery robots, would be here to stay as part of the new-normal post-pandemic. Likewise, The New York Times correspondent Cade Metz and business journalist Erin Griffith, reached the same conclusions, when they stated: “The sudden usefulness of the robots to people staying in their homes is a tantalizing hint of what the machines could one day accomplish — at least under ideal conditions.“ The only caveat will be obtaining municipal clearance for the increased number of vehicle robots circulating everywhere on sidewalks and streets.

All aspects the Starship robots and delivery system are patented. From insulation capacity of the payload container, to the robotics of obstacle avoidance, edge finding and navigation in low-light conditions, including systems and methods of freight delivery and distribution.  Approximately 100 patents have been granted to cover all the inventive aspects and components of the Starship Robots.  

The following is an exemplary and non-exhaustive list of the Starship patents, including World Intellectual Property Oganisation (WO- Patent Cooperation Treaty) patents, United States (US) utility patents, Canadian (CA) patents, British (GB) patents and European (EP - European Patent Convention) patents:

• US10005609B1 Device and system for insulating items during delivery by a mobile robot
• CA187741S Delivery robot
• CA187743S Delivery robot
• CA187742S Delivery robot
• CA174441S Delivery robot
• CA167756S Delivery robot 
• CA172068S Delivery robot
• GB2567988A System and mobile freight station, and method for distributing, delivering and collecting freight
• US20190168392A1 Storage system, use and method with robotic parcel retrieval and loading 
• US20180349834A1 Method and system for delivering items
• US20180253108A1 Mobile robot system and method for generating map data using straight lines
• US10239378B2 Robot and method for traversing vertical obstacles
• US10239378B2 Robot and method for traversing vertical obstacles
• US20180244327A1 Obstacle traversing mobile robot
• US10282995B2  Mobile robot having collision avoidance system for crossing a road from a pedestrian pathway
• US9741010B1 System and methods for securely delivering packages to different delivery recipients with a single vehicle
• US20180232839A1 Method and system for autonomous or semi-autonomous delivery
• EP3330908A1 System and method for securely delivering packages to different delivery recipients with a single vehicle
• EP3510562A1 Method and system for calibrating multiple cameras
• WO2018215579A1 Method and system for swapping and/or charging a battery of a mobile robot

• WO2018108832A9 Robot, system and method detecting and/or responding to transitions in height

• WO2018215581A1 A battery and a system for swapping and/or charging a battery of a mobile robot

• WO2019048332A1

  Mobile robot having collision avoidance system for crossing a road from a pedestrian pathway
• WO2019053162A1 System and method for item delivery by a mobile robot

• WO2018206514A1

  A signaling device and system for increasing visibility of a mobile robot

• WO2019020407A1 Device and system for secure package delivery by mobile robot

  
  

• WO2019068634A1  

  Device and system for consumable item delivery by mobile robot

• US20190236741A1  System and mobile freight station and method for distribution, delivery and collection of freight

• WO2018215562A1

   Device and method for detection and localization of vehicles

• WO2018024851A1 Vehicle

• WO2018099930A1 System and method for securely delivering packages to different delivery recipients with a single vehicle

• WO2018215583A1 A device and system for increasing tolerance in a battery station

• WO2018024852A1 Vehicle having a loading device

• WO2019086465A1 Visual localization and mapping in low light conditions
• WO2018077619A1 Sidewalk and edge finder system and method

 References

Starship Technologies (website) https://www.starship.xyz/

Marr, B. (May 209, 2020) Demand For These Autonomous Delivery Robots Is Skyrocketing During This Pandemic. Forbes.com https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/05/29/demand-for-these-autonomous-delivery-robots-is-skyrocketing-during-this-pandemic/#7bb9d9fd7f3c

Metz, C. & E. Griffith (May 20, 2020) A City Locks Down to Fight Coronavirus, but Robots Come and Go. NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/technology/delivery-robots-coronavirus-milton-keynes.html