A self-driving delivery robot, Yandex.Rover, has started operating outside Yandex’s territory, the company reported in its blog. Currently, the device is used at the Skolkovo innovations center.
The six-wheeled automated courier debuted in November 2019, when it was used to deliver documents between the Yandex company’s headquarter premises. In February 2020, Yandex started using the robotic device for delivering purchases to its staff members across the company’s territory.
The device proved successful, and the company made a decision to expand the courier’s operations outside the company’s area. At the Skolkovo innovations center, the robot delivers documents and parcels between the premises located within several kilometers of each other.
According to Yandex, the delivery robot performs its functions perfectly over the wide area. The device lays the route between the designated locations, detects objects and surmounts obstacles, with a staff member only having to unblock the robot’s load section using a mobile phone and put the parcel inside or pick it up.
The personnel tracks the device via a mobile app. Eventually, the automated courier will be used for delivering food and online shop orders as well as transporting items across the warehouse territory.