Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. A delivery robot battles the elements in West Hollywood, gets support from online fans: 'Go coco, go!' Coco Robotics describes its delivery bots, pictured in 2023, as being "weather proof" and "engineered for efficient city travel." That description was put to the test during this latest storm. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .

Cars, homes, machines, factories, warehouses … all of our built environment is designed by and for human beings as inhabitants, operators, drivers, or workers. And if Tesla, or Xiaomi, or Boston Dynamics, or some other company manages to pull it off the entire business: hardware, AI, production, and ecosystem of service, support, and perhaps apps and attachments. One skeptic that we'll get there anytime soon is MIT professor Daniela Rus, who shares the core problem in a succinct statement: the more you generalize, the less you optimize. In this view, a purpose-built robot or machine like a Roomba, or a Robby delivery bot, or a plain old dishwasher can be optimized to do a good job at the one thing it's intended to do. But as soon as you generalize -- carpet and hardwood for the Roomba, stairs and uneven under-construction sidewalks for the delivery bot, self-loading for the dishwasher -- you expand the problem set and reduce the specific effectiveness of the machine.

Is a human-shaped robot like Optimus, the Tesla Bot, the right path to travel if we want to achieve useful robots and automated help in all aspects of our working and personal lives? That's basically the promise of Optimus, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk says will usher in "a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it." One thing is undeniable: there's an abiding appeal to human shaped and human sized robots, as Irena Cronin, CEO of Infinite Retina, recently told me. Part of the value of copying the human form: the world is built for humans. Cars, homes, machines, factories, warehouses ... all of our built environment is designed by and for human beings as inhabitants, operators, drivers, or workers. And Tesla's not the only one attempting to create humaniform robots.

Dean Apostolopoulos is the man behind Uber's autonomous robots, but his goal of a driverless delivery is about more than food.

Teleoperation: the technology that enables a human to remotely monitor, assist and even drive an autonomous vehicle. Teleoperation is a seemingly simple capability, yet it involves numerous technologies and systems in order to be implemented safely. In the first article of this series, we established what teleoperation is and why it is critical for the future of autonomous vehicles (AVs). In the second article, we showed the legislative traction and emphasis gained for this technology. In the third and fourth articles, we explained two of the many technical challenges that needed to be overcome in order to enable remote vehicle assistance and operation.

Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup founded by two former Google engineers, has raised $500 million, suggesting that investors still have an appetite for long-term pursuits such as robotics and automated vehicle technology. Nuro now has a post-money valuation of $5 billion. The Series C round was led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with participation from new investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company and Baillie Gifford. The round also includes existing investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and Greylock. Nuro was founded in June 2016 by former Google engineers Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu.

THE UK'S first autonomous delivery vehicle has hit the roads - giving a glimpse into how technology is set to transform the parcel delivery industry. Kar-go, a state-of-the-art self-driving delivery bot built by Academy of Robotics, uses artificial intelligence and a specially developed package management system to provide contact-free delivery. Thanks to its unique vision system, the electric vehicle is capable of delivering in both city-centres and suburban and rural locations. Capable of covering 60 miles - more than the average daily delivery round - fully loaded on a single charge this type of electric delivery bot could dramatically reduce the environmental impact of parcel deliveries. In a landmark first journey, the machine successfully transported medical supplies from a pharmacy to a care home in Hounslow, Greater London.

Welcome to the world of delivery robots: one of the fastest-growing and most competitive markets in robotics. The idea behind these bots is simple: The customer orders an item, that item is loaded into or onto the robot, and then the robot travels to the customer to drop it off. But that's not stopped multiple intrepid companies from exploring their own innovative approaches to the challenge. Here are six of the biggest names to watch out for when it comes to delivery robots. With its Star Trek-sounding name, it's no surprise that Starship went boldly where no other robotics company has gone before; helping invent the modern delivery robot in the process.

A remote Phantom Auto operator monitors a Postmates delivery robot. The 2020s may yet be the decade of self-driving cars, but early predictions from automakers and tech developers including Tesla, Nissan, Nvidia and Ford that autonomous vehicles would be ready as soon as this year or next don't seem to be panning out. This week auto supply giant Magna ended a tech alliance with Lyft on self-driving robo-taxis owing to a slower-than-anticipated timetable. But the billions of dollars that have been poured into R&D and development of advanced sensors and computing the past few years are being leveraged for near-term applications, including delivery robots and self-driving trucks, as well as autonomous warehouse, cleaning and security bots. And as those vehicles proliferate, there's an increasing need to keep track of them, monitor their operations, provide remote guidance in some cases or even, in very limited circumstances, drive them remotely.

China and Japan have unleashed a fleet of delivery robots for a test program in Bejing and Shenzhen. Food delivery giant Meituan-Dianping has partnered with 10 hotels and office buildings to test a new mobile delivery robot to carry food deliveries to students and office workers at their desks or dorm rooms. Unlike other delivery bots, these variants are designed to navigate both elevators and stairs to bring the order directly to your door -- and they do so with a'smile" However, the program still relies on a human delivery person to bring the food to the office building lobby or carry it onto the university campus, but once there the robot's take over. Meituan-Dianping has targeted offices and universities in part because their layouts are easier to navigate than bustling city centers. The robots can navigate both elevators and stairs.