Geoffrey is a 10-pund pink delivery robot developed by Canadian company Tiny Mile. It is controlled from a distance by a human using a computer and a joystick(操纵杆), navigating with GPS and watching through cameras.
With Geoffrey, we don't need to keep delivery humans standing around waiting for the order to be ready, and all those restaurant humans watching their food get cold when the driver hasn't shown up- two big problems in the industry.
Account manager Omar Elawi says "Right now, the delivery robots are mostly controlled by young people with a history of gaming, who are comfortable navigating(定位)the streets on a street with a joystick. But we are trying to push the idea of jobs for disabled people who could work from home.
Tiny Mile sees their market as being very local food service. Even though Geoffrey can run for eight hours, it is meant to travel a little over a mile at walking speed, so that delivered food will be fresh and hot.
Some people wonder whether the delivery robots can survive if someone tries to turn them over or steal their lunch, but Elawi says this has not been a big problem. "There have been no real problems, an amazing reaction actually. A couple of kids were throwing snowballs. Many people would actually help it when it got struck in the snow." Soon it will even have a speaker so that the driver can say thank you for the help.
Another different thing about Tiny Mile's delivery robots is that the drivers are paid. Edward Trill says, "Unlike usual delivery robots, Geoffrey isn't here to take away jobs, but eventually create more-with higher pay." It will also be more environmentally friendly as it products more. A few years from now it is going to sound silly that we use a car to carry a food box." He adds.
