The first Keynote presentation for the UKIVA Machine Vision Conference and Exhibition will be delivered by Henry Harris-Burland, VP Marketing from Starship Technologies, creators of self-driving delivery robots. He will give a presentation outlining the capabilities of the robot and discuss the future, what they’ve learned so far, the challenges they have faced, social acceptance and more. Starship robots are advanced personal delivery devices that carry items within a 2-mile (3km) radius, using pavements to make their deliveries. The Conference and Exhibition will be held at Arena MK, Milton Keynes, UK on Wednesday 16th May 2018 (www.machinevisionconference.co.uk).
The robot is equipped with 9 or 10 cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors that create an “awareness bubble” allowing it to detect and avoid obstacles such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists. A proprietary positioning system which includes GPS, but is accurate down to 2cm, allows it to find the exact location to which it is delivering the order. A robot can hold the equivalent of three shopping bags of food up to 22lb in weight in a locked compartment that can only be opened using a code sent to the recipient via their mobile phone.
Starship Technologies was founded in 2014 by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis who were both involved in the creation of Skype and has its business headquarters in San Francisco. Extensive street trials have led to orders from major organisations such as Just Eat, Hermes Parcel Delivery in the UK, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises in Germany, Postmates and Doordash in United States and the company has established other partnerships worldwide.
The company is carrying out a major trial at present in Milton Keynes itself, and will bring a robot along to event to dispense soft drinks and sweets during the lunch period so that visitors can see it in action. A ‘robot ambassador’ will be on hand to answer robot questions and engage with visitors. The Keynote presentation will be made at the beginning of the afternoon session.
Visitor registration for the event is open at: www.machinevisionconference.co.uk/delegate-registration/.The Conference will take place across 7 presentation theatres which will cover the following subject areas: Understanding vision technology, 3D Vision, Deep learning and Embedded vision, Optics and illumination, Vision innovation, Systems and applications and Camera technology. Over 40 companies have now booked stands for the accompanying exhibition, and anyone interested in exhibiting at this event should contact Chris Valdes: +44 (0)20 8773 5517 (chris.valdes@ppma.co.uk).
