Pizza company Domino’s Australia has turned a military robot into a pizza delivery droid.
DRU, Domino’s Robotic Unit, a prototype of what Domino’s says is the world’s first autonomous pizza delivery vehicle, was unveiled in Brisbane on Thursday night.
The fast-food retailer built the droid with Australian startup Marathon Robotics using a robot sourced from the military and its own technology, including Domino’s GPS tracking data.
DRU, which could spell the beginning of the end of the pizza delivery boy, has a sensory system that uses lasers to move around obstacles in its path to travel unassisted to a customer’s address.
The four-wheeled robotic unit travels up to speeds of 20km/h and is designed to cruise on footpaths, trails and bike paths.
When it reaches its destination, the customer enters a security code in their phone to tell the robot to open its locked storage compartment and deliver the pizza.
Domino’s says it all began in 2015 with a microchip and a big idea and finished with months of testing.
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