Amazon Scout is a 6 wheeled

delivery robot Delivery robot on a sidewalk A delivery robot is an autonomous robot that provides " last mile" delivery services. An operator may monitor and take control of the robot remotely in certain situations that the robot cannot resolve by itself such as ...

used to deliver packages for multinational company

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. Amazon Scout originally debuted on January 23, 2019, delivering packages to

customers In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for m ...

Snohomish County, Washington Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 75th-most populous ...

. Amazon scouts move on

sidewalks A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...

, at a walking pace. In August, 2019, the robots started delivering packages to customers

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on a test basis, with human monitors. The package is stored inside of the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

, and driven to the

customer In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for ...

. Amazon acquired the robotics company Dispatch to build the robot.

Vision and Technology

All Amazon Scout robots are fully electric, as a part of Amazon’s movement towards

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

carbon emission by 2040. Amazon plans to use Scout in place of common delivery carriers, and for it to be available with Amazon’s shipping options for Amazon Prime members, such as two-day shipping. Integration of Scout adds to Amazon’s use of automation in delivery infrastructure, as there are already robots in use at Amazon warehouses. It is also helping to transition the Prime program from two-day shipping to faster one-day shipping. Amazon Scout has been developed to safely navigate around common neighborhood obstacles such as pets and pedestrians. Scout uses tech like sensors and machine learning to navigate streets, as GPS is not reliable or detailed enough. The risks of using Scout are small as well, in comparison to the risks associated with autonomous cars.

Rollout in Snohomish County, WA

Amazon’s first rollout of Scout began in Snohomish County, Washington, with only six devices being used. Scout robots operated Monday through Friday, during daylight hours. They autonomously followed a route set to their destination, but each robot was accompanied by an employee titled an "Amazon Scout Ambassador". Delivery began in Irvine, California in August 2019 under the same operating conditions used in Snohomish County, WA.

Further Usage and Future Development

According to Amazon Vice President Sean Scott, Amazon is continuing its rollout of Scout in different locations around the US in order to “operate in varied neighborhoods with different climates”. As of November 2020, Amazon Scout robots operated in Atlanta, Georgia, and Franklin, Tennessee as well. Further Scout trials are being conducted at locations like college campuses and office complexes. Delivery with Scout around the US also continued through the COVID-19 pandemic to minimize human-to-human contact. The current Amazon Scout development team includes former robotics professors who will be developing features like navigation, independent perception, and simulation testing, in order to optimize Scout for future widespread usage. In several ways, federal and local regulations are limiting further investment, development, and testing of Scout. For example, some regulations “limit the use of fully automated devices in public space”, which is why an accompanying Amazon employee has been necessary. There have also been concerns about robots like Scout replacing human workers, and concerns on how residents will react to camera-bearing robots in their neighborhoods.

References

Robots Amazon (company) {{robot-stub

Vision and Technology

Rollout in Snohomish County, WA

Further Usage and Future Development

See also

References