Love robot delivery? Virginia may be for you

RICHMOND, Va. — Robots about the size of a beer cooler could soon be rolling down Virginia sidewalks to deliver sandwiches, groceries or packages.

Supporters say proposed legislation to allow the robots would make the state the first in the nation to regulate such devices.

State lawmakers partnered with European company Starship Technologies on bills allowing Virginia cities to join two others in the United States and many across Europe where the company is testing its largely autonomous earthbound robots. Much like other tech companies’ attempts at airborne drone deliveries, Starship aims to revolutionize the way people get parcels.

Representatives from the company visited Richmond on Wednesday for a demonstration. With six wheels, a top that swings open and a flag for visibility, Starship’s compact “personal delivery devices” are designed to carry goods within a 2- to 3-mile radius. They can hold up to 22 pounds, or about three shopping bags’ worth of goods. Recipients can unlock them with a smartphone app.

Starship, led by Skype cofounders, also promotes the devices as a more environmentally friendly way to deal with local deliveries.

“Big vans — stopping and starting, polluting. It’s so inefficient, and our little robots are best optimized for those sort of deliveries,” said Starship spokesman Henry HarrisBurland.

The company says the robots could also get groceries to homebound people at a fraction of the current cost and help expand access to “healthy” groceries.

Starship’s devices are equipped with cameras and two-way audio so operators can talk to nearby people, and they would have their lids locked during deliveries, Harris-Burland said. If someone picked one up, a car-alarm type noise would start blaring.