Amazon unveils a Scout six-wheeled delivery robot | Scientific and technical news



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Amazon has revealed its new six-wheeled delivery drone called "Scout" which, according to him, began delivering parcels in Snohomish County, Washington State this week.

The devices are about the size of a small cooler, says Amazon, and run on sidewalks. [pavements] at a walking pace "as shown by the generously-produced advertising video accompanying the press release.

Amazon explains that Scout is "designed to securely route parcels to customers using stand-alone delivery devices", even though its autonomy is unclear and if that autonomy is more than a programmed path to follow.

An Amazon Scout robot
Picture:
Despite the video, the delivery vehicles will initially be accompanied by the staff of Amazon

The company says Scouts will be "initially accompanied by an Amazon employee" when they drive, and adds that they are able to "navigate safely and efficiently around pets, pedestrians. and everything in their path. "

In the advertising video, the recipient of a package must leave the house to recover it. The Scout for her without any obvious authentication mechanism that she uses to unlock it. The lid looks thin and not particularly resistant to burglary.

An Amazon Scout robot
Picture:
Amazon Scout devices are about the size of a cooler

Even if, at times, Amazon seems to be more of a retail giant with a high-performance website than a technology company, the growth of its cloud hosting service, Amazon Web Services, and its investment in development of broadcasting devices give it solid references.

The company conducts similar trials in locations around the world, with better-protected environments, such as university and industrial campuses, providing a valuable use case for pre-programmed or self-guided delivery vehicles.

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