FedEx Puts Its Same-Day Delivery Robot To Sleep, Humans Win This Time

FedEx is calling it quits in the robotics department. The courier company had been making moves to develop a bot that could provide last-mile deliveries without hiring more people to accomplish the task. However, according to a report by Robotics 24/7, that dream has ended.
 
According to the report, an email from the company’s chief transformation officer Sriram Krishnasamy outlined a new corporate goal named ‘DRIVE’, in which ‘Roxo’ the robot has no place. The letter stated that the droid did not meet near-term plans for the company under the new DRIVE model and, as such, the project was shutting down.
 
Roxo was developed with partners at DEKA Research and Development Corp. In its heyday, the bot stood at around five feet and weighed 450 pounds. It was designed to navigate busy neighborhoods and climb up porch steps to get right to customers’ front doors. 
 
The robot was equipped with 360-degree LiDAR sensors and range cameras, and housed an electric battery. It had four wheels to drive it along the roads, and it even had a little screen on its front that could announce messages.
 

Besides Roxo, FedEx has been piloting drone deliveries in the city of Christiansburg, in Virginia. Alphabet’s Wing supplied the UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). However, it remains to be seen whether this project will survive the new DRIVE model.
 
 
 
[via Ars Technica and WebProNews, cover image via FedEx]