Self-driving delivery robots could be coming to the District

D.C. pedestrians soon could be sharing the sidewalk with robots transporting meals or messages around the city.

Resembling a motorized ice chest, the Sustainable Delivery Device made its debut in the nation’s capital Wednesday by carrying a packet of legal papers into the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest.

“Say hello to the people,” D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh said to the delivery robot during the demonstration at City Hall. “This is going to revolutionize the delivery of goods. It will disrupt fossil fuel deliveries.”

The District will be the first U.S. city to test deployment of the self-driving devices made by Starship Technologies, a British startup firm launched by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis. The robots are undergoing test runs in London.

Allan Martinson, chief operating officer at Starship, said the fully electric robots are more energy-efficient than cars and produce no carbon emissions. Able to carry up to 25 pounds, or about two bags of groceries, they travel about 4 mph. Each is equipped with cameras and sensors to avoid impediments and walkers.

“It knows how to behave around pedestrians,” Mr. Martinson said.

The SDD relies on Google Maps to plot its course, and its smartphone-based technology will allow customers to arrange delivery times, greatly reducing car-based shopping trips and truck deliveries, he said.

Mr. Martinson hopes to have commercial trials by autumn and said some businesses already are interested in using the robots, which can transport groceries, meals, packages and other items.

But before any of that can happen, city lawmakers must enact legislation to allow the devices to operate on sidewalks. Currently, only Segways and motorized wheelchairs are allowed to share the pavement with pedestrians.

Ms. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat and chairwoman of the Transportation Committee, decided the best way to deliver her legislation Wednesday to the D.C. Council secretary was to let the robot do it. The trip was generally smooth, and the few hiccups were caused by humans trying to get up close to the device.

The machine normally would drive itself. But since it doesn’t travel indoors, an operator had to guide it along the wheelchair-accessible ramp that leads into the Wilson Building and around the corner to the secretary’s office.

According to a fact sheet from Starship, an estimated one-third of all car-based shopping trips can be handled by the Sustainable Delivery Device.

“Growing evidence suggests that e-commerce can lead to lower energy consumption and reduced CO2 emissions when compared to car-based shopping,” the company says.

Anyone thinking about stealing a pizza from a robot should think again: Each robot is equipped with nine cameras and a live video feed that is streamed to an operations center. It also has two-way audio to allow the person monitoring the robot to talk to people around it. The device will operate on its own most of the time, but a human at the command center can take control when needed.

Students from Friendship Tech Prep Academy, a public charter school in Southeast, were on hand at Wednesday’s demonstration. Many of them want to get into robotics and see the delivery robot as a step toward their future.

“It’s very new and very innovative,” said Malik Miller, a 10th-grader interested in mechanical engineering. “[Robotics] is expanding so quickly that you don’t know what to expect next.”