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Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

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Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#12
What's the business model here? It seems like delivery bots could only work on wide walking paths on closed campuses. Or are the startups here assuming we'll build dedicated infrastructure for them?

I can't imagine they would ever work in real world cities (putting rolling roadblocks on busy public sidewalks is antisocial at best, and besides they're bound to get blocked by obstructions en route that require them to be lifted up and over the curb--trash cans, outdoor seating, carelessly parked scooters...)

And if I ever came up behind one put-putting along in a bike lane I'm not sure what I would do but I like to believe it wouldn't technically be illegal.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#13
Absolutely hate these scooters from an ADA prospective.

My neighborhood is a mostly quiet one near the center of a large city, where there are a lot of mothers who push their kids in strollers, older folks with canes, and some people even in wheelchairs.

On the weekends -- sometimes the weekdays as well depending on the time of the year -- the city gets flooded with both tourists, and suburbanites who want to go to all the 'trendy' spots often opting to use these scooters.

More often than not they park them right in the middle of the sidewalk. The side walk that the strollers, canes and wheelchairs use on a daily basis. Usually when I see this, I just knock the things over and push them out of the way.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#18
I work at a different university that has these same units.

Watching them cross streets is comical. They are excessively conservative.

While backing up one time (on a sidewalk), one gently ran into me. I should have flopped and cried out to risk management.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#19

What's the business model here? It seems like delivery bots could only work on wide walking paths on closed campuses. Or are the startups here assuming we'll build dedicated infrastructure for them? I can't imagine they would ever work in real world cities (putting rolling roadblocks on busy public sidewalks is antisocial at best, and besides they're bound to get blocked by obstructions en route that require them to…

If the new infrastructure cost is less than the old manual labor cost, you can bank on the infrastructure being built.

Truckers holding out on "only humans can handle last mile" are in for a surprise when we start rebuilding the last miles.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#20

What's the business model here? It seems like delivery bots could only work on wide walking paths on closed campuses. Or are the startups here assuming we'll build dedicated infrastructure for them? I can't imagine they would ever work in real world cities (putting rolling roadblocks on busy public sidewalks is antisocial at best, and besides they're bound to get blocked by obstructions en route that require them to…

At my campus, these devices cross public streets. They are scurrying around quite a bit, so it seems they are being used productively.
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