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Yandex. Rover

Product
Developers: Yandex
Date of the premiere of the system: November 2019
Branches: Logistics and Distribution
Technology: Robotics

Content

2021

3rd Generation Robot Courier Announcement

On November 17, 2021, Yandex announced the creation of third-generation robot couriers. They began to be used to deliver food on the campus of the University of Arizona in the United States, where about 35 thousand people live.

Among the main innovations in Yandex.Rovers is an improved lidar that allows you to better see close objects: the angle of view in the vertical has become wider, and the number of rays emitted has increased from 16 to 64. An additional camera with a long focal length also appeared, allowing you to see traffic lights on the opposite side of even a very wide road.

Yandex introduced 3rd generation robot couriers

The new rover will be able to transport up to 20 kg of cargo in the 60-liter compartment - for example, six 40-centimeter pizzas and four two-liter bottles of soda. The second-generation robot houses five pizzas without soda.

According to the developers, the suspension of the third generation has become softer. Now it is easier for robots to climb high curbs, drive off-road, overcome snow porridge and other difficult sections of the path. Robots began to move quieter on tiles, paving stones and at exits from curbs.

Third-generation rovers were tested in the summer of 2021 in the central part of Russia, so they created a special platform with artificial snow to test the new suspension in winter conditions. According to Yandex, there are no suitable winter tires on the market, so the company also makes them.

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We experimented a lot - for example, we changed the pattern and depth of the tread - and we found the most successful options for the appearance of new robots, "Yandex said.
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In addition, updated delivery robots are equipped with a removable battery. Now he does not need to take a pause to charge - replacing the dropped battery with a fresh one takes less than a minute. When the battery is removed, the rover is powered by a small backup battery, the company said.[1]

Russian Post began to deliver parcels using Yandex robots

On October 25, 2021, Russian Post announced the launch of a delivery service using Yandex robots. We are talking about the use of Yandex.Rover devices, which at the first stage will deliver parcels from 27 post offices in Moscow. At first, 36 robotic couriers were purchased. More details here.

Start of delivery by courier robots of orders to residential buildings in Moscow

In February 2021, the Yandex.Rover robot began delivering Yandex.Lavka orders to residential buildings on the Khodynsky field in Moscow. The company promises to expand the geography of automated couriers. More details here.

2020

Yandex.Food has robot couriers delivering orders in Moscow and Innopolis

On December 9, 2020, Yandex announced the start of using courier robots to deliver orders from Yandex.Food users. So far, Yandex.Rover drones are available only to workers and visitors to the Belaya Ploshchad business quarter near the Belorusskaya metro station in Moscow, as well as Innopolis near Kazan. More details here.

Start shipping products from Yandex.Shop

On October 22, 2020, it became known that Yandex.Rover courier robots are starting to deliver products from Yandex.Lavka in Moscow. This was announced on his page on the social network Facebook by the general director of Yandex.Taxi Daniil Shuleiko.

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This handsome man is already preparing to be replaced in one of the "Shops" of Moscow. It turned out that to agree on the appearance of Rover is not a task at all for the day, "he wrote.
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According to Shuleiko, first Yandex.Rover will deliver orders issued through Yandex.Shop to a limited number of customers in business centers. In order to get the purchased products, you will need to go down to the street and pick them up from a robotic machine.

Yandex.Rover courier robots begin to deliver products from Yandex.Shop

Daniil Shuleiko, in comments on his Facebook post, admitted that there is a risk of theft of the robot, noting that it is rather heavy, and its movements are monitored. By October 22, 2020, delivery of Yandex.Rovers products will work in which areas of Moscow.

Yandex expects that in the future, delivery robots will be used simultaneously with couriers, which will meet the peak demand for delivery. At the same time, unlike couriers, robots will not be able to enter the entrances - customers will have to leave the house to pick up the order. Only the recipient of the order can open the cover of the cargo compartment of the robot using a mobile application.

According to Vadim Bolshakov, head of the ATOL development department, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, weather conditions can interfere with the robot: snow, rain, frost. It can be stuck on ice or in a snowdrift. Maybe a giant puddle will not go around. Many stairs, curbs and trails not marked on the map. For the robot, such routes, confirmed the development director of Promobot Oleg Kivokurtsev, are extremely difficult and even dangerous.[2]

Start of tests in Moscow

In July 2020, Yandex began testing the unmanned Yandex.Rover, its robot courier. He was first seen on Malaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow.

This is a six-wheeler about a meter long and about half a meter high, designed to move along the sidewalks at a pedestrian speed. The robot is able not only to recognize the objects surrounding it and bypass obstacles, but also to lay a route, passing people and animals. It is equipped with lidar, which means it is well oriented both in the daytime and at night. However, it is still difficult to say from the video - a smart suitcase on wheels moves autonomously or is controlled by engineers from laptops.

Earlier, Yandex.Rover was tested only in the Moscow office of the company, from April it could be seen in Skolkovo, where a robot courier delivers documents and parcels. The customer only needs to meet him, unlock the lock of the cargo compartment through the mobile application, and then pick up the package.

All this happens as part of a special law-approved experiment on the development of Artificial Intelligence in Moscow. Experts are sure that in a few years the robot delivery can seriously compete with the "living" couriers of the same Yandex.Food or Delivers.Club.

Experts also suggest that, in addition to the main functions, the robot can carry out others without additional costs, in particular, monitor the order along its route using special video cameras, as well as collect large data from all pedestrians with smartphones encountered along the way.

2019: First Robot Demo

On November 7, 2019, Yandex introduced a delivery robot, which is designed to transport small goods along city sidewalks. The device of the Russian company was called Yandex.Rover.

The robot is able to recognize objects around, plan a route, bypass obstacles, pass pedestrians and animals, and thanks to lidar (technology for obtaining and processing information about remote objects using active optical systems) it can do all this in the dark.

Yandex introduced a robot courier for transporting goods

 The robot is based  on the development of Yandex for an unmanned vehicle. The  delivery robot tests different sets of sensors, new chassis designs for more complex terrain  and fragile loads.

The robot uses a classic design for such equipment with three pairs of wheels and vertical loading of the package. To do this, a hatch is installed in the upper part of the robot, which can be opened only by a company employee and a client using a mobile application for unlocking. The height of the robot is about half a meter.

By the time Yandex.Rover was announced, several robots were already driving along the roads, they were taking documents from Yandex headquarters to the bus, and they were reaching other company offices on it.

Delivery robots can become indispensable for the  "last mile" stage  in logistics, said   Dmitry Polishchuk, head of unmanned vehicles at Yandex. 

Yandex.Rover can reach its destination in completely offline mode, but by November 7, 2019 it is still controlled using a remote operator.

It is assumed that robots can become indispensable for the "last mile" stage in logistics, and the company itself plans to use it in the Yandex.Food and Yandex.Shop projects to deliver goods from the Beru online store or in warehouse logistics.[3]

Notes