S Group has announced that its online food store, S-kaupat, will commence emission-free, express deliveries using transport robots in stages during the spring and summer.
The Finnish retailer has partnered with Starship Technologies, a global developer and manufacturer of autonomous transport robots, to deliver purchases to customers within an hour on average of the order.
The service can be accessed via the S-kaupat application, available on App Store and Google Play Store.
In the first phase, deliveries will commence at S Group's regional cooperative HOK-Elanto, where the robots were successfully piloted last year.
In the next step, during the summer, the service will be rolled out to six stores in Tampere, Turku, Pori, Rauma, Jyväskylä and Oulu.
Starship's robots plan their routes using artificial intelligence and GPS positioning. The robot knows all the details of the environment and routes, including road crossings, and with the help of artificial intelligence, it learns more about the environment all the time.
Starship Technologies
Starship's robots work independently, but are monitored by humans. The robots move independently 99% of the time and have around 12 cameras, ultrasound sensors and probes.
The technology uses computer vision to identify obstacles and is programmed to stop quickly after detecting an obstacle.
Starship's more than 2,000 robots carry thousands of deliveries every day in more than 50 service areas around the world.
Jarkko Kyttänen, CDO of S Group Retail said, "Demand for fast delivery is growing strongly and this is also reflected in our plans for the future. With Starship's robotic technology, we can offer our customers fast and reliable delivery of their purchases across Finland."
'Real Demand'
"The successful cooperation in Espoo last year showed that there is a real demand for robot deliveries among Finns," said Alastair Westgarth, CEO of Starship Technologies."We believe that people in different locations will adopt our innovative service and transport services will become an integral part of their everyday life."
Westgarth added, "Finland is also Starship's 'home market,' as our research and product development centre in Helsinki plays a key role in the design and development of robots."
Read More: UK's Co-op Rolls Out Starship Delivery Robots In Cambridge
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Technology news. Article by Robert McHugh. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
