Supermarket bleep! Tescos using robots to make deliveries

SHOPPERS who live within two miles of a Tesco branch can now order their online groceries to be delivered by a “shop bot”.

The two-foot long robots, which look like cooler boxes on wheels, can travel at 4mph along pavements and navigate crossing roads by using a mix of GPS, camera and radar.

The six-wheeled bots can even sense obstacles including oncoming cars and pedestrians.

Tesco successfully carried out a pilot last year and now customers near the store at the Kingston Centre in Milton Keynes can choose from 1,000 products for the £1 delivery fee.

Tech start-up Starship Technologies is behind the scheme where workers pick out up to three shopping bags’ worth of groceries and send them out in the robots’ locked trunks.

Shoppers are sent a unique code to unlock their groceries on a smartphone app.

Milton Keynes is set to be the capital of shop bots because of the Buckinghamshire town’s modern road layout which has also enabled the Co-op to adopt them for home delivery – as well as a separate package delivery service.

Starship’s Henry Harris-burland told trade journal The Grocer: “Tesco coming on board is a fantastic addition for residents in the area.

“This is the first time customers can order from Tesco and receive robot delivery.”

In another move, upmarket chain Waitrose is asking customers to bring clean containers to take home fresh meat and fish as it tries to scrap plastic bags from its counters.

TRIAL How shop bots work