Tiny pink robots invading Charlotte? Nope, it was just a demo, their creator says.
Residents and shoppers walking around Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon might have encountered tiny pink robots with heart-shaped eyes crossing streets, and even following them on the sidewalk.
“They’re friendly until they’re not,” an Observer reporter overheard.
There was no cause for alarm. It was just a demonstration for a potential partner, according to Ignacio Tartavull, founder of Toronto startup Tiny Mile.
The pink robots, named Geoffrey, pick up and deliver food through online services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, according to the Tiny Mile website.
The robots roamed Central Avenue for a few minutes, but Tiny Mile isn’t operating in Charlotte “at this moment,” Tartavull said in a tweet.
Tiny Mile is evaluating whether to move its headquarters to Charlotte, but no decision has been reached yet, Tartavull told the Observer. The company currently operates in downtown Toronto.
The company uses a pay-as-you-go pricing structure that charges $1 per kilometer (about 0.62 miles), according to the company website. Every delivery also is insured.
Tiny Mile claims its robots will make food deliveries in 15 minutes, and its services are 10 times cheaper for restaurants because there are no driver commission fees to pay. Restaurants are saving between 5% and 15% in those fees, Omar Elawi, Tiny Mile account manager of partnerships, told NOW Magazine in May 2021.
“For the first time, Uber becomes a lot more affordable for them,” Elawi said.
Geoffreys are not autonomous. They are remotely operated by people working from home on laptops and Xbox controllers, Elawi said. The robots have built-in GPS and cameras that give operators a 360-degree field of view for navigation, he said.
“Creating these new avenues actually creates new jobs,” Elawi said. “You need to hire pilots, technicians, dispatchers, maintenance people, engineers. That’s multiple jobs created versus just one courier.”
The robots aren’t being used in the U.S. yet. They’ve been in use in Toronto since the Tiny Mile started in November 2019, according to Tartavull’s LinkedIn account.
Before starting Tiny Mile, Tartavull worked as autonomy engineer for Uber in 2018 and most of 2019.
“Robots delivering ice-cream, snacks and more,” Tiny Mile’s website says.
Observer staff writer Gordon Rago contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 5:03 PM.
