Researchers Teach Delivery Robot to Climb and Descend Stairs

In a few years, robots delivering parcels and moving goods around cities will likely become commonplace. Delivery companies are always looking for the next major innovation in this sector.

In the US, companies such as Starship Technologies have grown enormously as a result of the pandemic, and others, such as Coco, are also expanding rapidly. Some large companies have developed their own autonomous delivery robots: for example, Alibaba, whose robots are becoming increasingly visible in everyday life in China.

Many companies have already launched their first prototypes, but the robots developed by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and CARNET have a standout feature: they can climb and descend stairs.

The new robots were developed by UPC and CARNET, a research center based in Catalonia (Spain) specializing in mobility and innovation, funded by the Volkswagen Group, SEAT and UPC itself.

The goal of the project is to analyze how autonomous delivery devices can improve urban freight distribution overall, quantify their potential impacts and test them in real urban conditions.

The Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics coordinated the project, which started in 2017. These robots will be used for last-mile delivery and will begin pilot operations in 2022 in Esplugues de Llobregat (Spain), Hamburg (Germany) and Debrecen (Hungary).

According to researchers, last-mile delivery accounts for more than 20% of pollution in cities, which could potentially be addressed with more efficient autonomous electric robots. They can also operate when there is less traffic on the roads.

The autonomous vehicle moves at a maximum speed of 20 km/h, measures 170 cm x 110 cm x 100 cm, has six wheels and can climb or descend steps up to 20 cm high.

Researchers also noted that these devices will reduce transport costs, since last-mile costs currently make up 40% of the total delivery cost.

"Factors such as urban traffic jams, a lack of parking spaces for loading and unloading commercial vehicles, and local regulations make managing urban freight distribution very expensive for logistics companies," said the press release.

Deploying autonomous vehicles would lead to a significant redistribution of carriers' costs and make delivery more economical and efficient than with conventional vehicles. In fact, these vehicles can operate outside working hours or even at night, when there is less traffic. 

In this sense, many companies are already bringing autonomous delivery robots (ADR) to market in order to reduce operating costs. While some autonomous delivery services are being tested in public environments, such initiatives are clearly in the minority, and most pilot projects are currently deployed in controlled environments.

The ADR project began in 2017 with a study called "Logistics Service" developed by the UPC's Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB), which conceptualized a logistics service with ADRs and analyzed the capabilities and impact of autonomous robots. 

In 2019, various studies were conducted on secondary uses of these vehicles. It was concluded that ADRs, in addition to distribution tasks, can analyze road surface or air quality using data from the vehicle's sensors combined with a computer vision algorithm.

Development of the current prototype began in 2018 through collaboration between experts from CARNET and Rücker Lypsa (now EDAG), an industrial partner company. A functional platform was developed in 2020, and the delivery service in 2021.

In 2019, Creative Lab defined a communication system between ADRs, users and citizens who interact with autonomous vehicles on the street. 

Creative Lab is a pioneering initiative in the region for training university students and companies, aimed at having students generate new ideas that change the concept of urban vehicles and develop a new concept of mobility in the city. Students, grouped into interdisciplinary teams, work on various challenges proposed by innovation engineers from SEAT and Volkswagen Group, under the guidance of school faculty and company specialists.

Similarly, a study conducted in 2021 by the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering analyzed various models of urban hubs for consolidating goods.

The Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI), a joint center made up of UPC and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), is currently working on robot sensors under the leadership of professor and researcher Alberto Sanfeliu. 

Real-world testing will be carried out as part of the "Logismile" project, which starts in January 2022 and is funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to promote more sustainable and liveable urban spaces.