Vayu Robotics has unveiled a “first-in-kind” on-road delivery robot said to offer the most cost-effective, safe, reliable delivery system on the market.

Vayu’s delivery dobots are already being debuted in real-world applications

The San Francisco-based firm says its new bot combines the power of modern AI foundation models with low-cost passive sensors that, together, eliminate the need for lidar, thereby slashing the cost of e-commerce deliveries compared to traditional mobile robotics.

The delivery robot operates autonomously without pre-mapping the roads it intends to drive on and is capable of navigating inside stores, on city streets, and unloading packages on driveways or porches, carrying up to 100lbs (45kg) at under 20mph (32km/hr).

Vayu’s delivery dobots are already being debuted in real-world applications. The company, co-founded by three veterans from the robotics and mobility industry, has also inked a commercial contract with a large e-commerce player to deploy 2,500 robots to enable ultra-fast goods delivery, with similar commercial customers in the pipeline.

Vayu Robotics CEO Anand Gopalan said: “The unique set of technologies we have developed at Vayu have allowed us to solve problems that have plagued delivery robots over the past decade, and finally create a solution that can actually be deployed at scale and enable the cheap transport of goods everywhere.”

The team is also working with a leading global robotics manufacturer to replace lidar sensors with Vayu’s sensing technology for other robotic applications.

Anand Gopalan remarked: “In the near future, Vayu’s software technology will enable the movement of quadrupedal and bipedal robots, allowing us to expand into those markets as well.”

Looking ahead, Vayu’s founders believe their low-cost robotics “nervous system” can power a new wave of mobile robots in other use cases, too.

“Autonomous delivery robots are only the tip of the iceberg,” stated Gopalan.