Pittsburgh International Airport is teaming up with tech startup Ottonomy and its fully autonomous delivery robot – Ottobot – for a pilot project offering select passengers a contactless delivery system. Ottonomy is partnering with PIT's xBridge Innovation Center, the airport's tech proving ground for technologies and startups that provide solutions for the industry and beyond. Drawing from the region's strong innovation economy, the airport is a proof-of-concept site for technologies in a real-world operating environment as well as a pilot site for companies' first deployments. Volunteer customers will be able to order and receive beverages at designated drop-off points in PIT's Airside Terminal. Ottobot from Ottonomy is the first fully autonomous robot for deliveries inside airports and is currently deployed at multiple airports in the USA and Europe.

Ottonomy.IO has announced the close of their seed funding round of $3.3 million bringing its total funding to date to $4.9M; supporting the scale of Ottobots for fully autonomous airport, retail and restaurant deliveries. The funding round is led by Pi Ventures who back deep tech startups. Connetic Ventures and Branded Hospitality Ventures and the Founder & CEO of Addverb Technologies, Sangeet Kumar, also joined this round; making the group a dynamic mix from retail, food and robotics industry investors for Ottonomy's seed round. "Last mile delivery is the least productive, yet the most expensive part of the delivery chain. There is a strong need for automation, which Ottonomy fulfills with Ottobots," says Roopan Aulakh, Managing Director from pi Ventures.

Autonomous robots were a major focus this year at CES, from roaming device demonstrations on the exhibit floor to virtual presentations discussing emerging trends in the space. Autonomous-delivery startup Ottonomy used the Las Vegas event to spotlight its Ottobot, the company's newly named delivery robot capable of navigating "crowded and unpredictable environments" and working indoors as well as outside. Two of Ottonomy's autonomous delivery robots, or ADRs, are operating inside Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where the bots make food, beverage and retail deliveries to passengers waiting to board flights. The autonomous robots, which resemble high-tech coolers on wheels, have a range of 2.5 miles and can operate for six to eight hours before needing to be recharged. The speed of the Ottobots is limited to 5 to 10 mph for safety reasons.