What do people do regarding these robots on the roads/paths?

[JustGeorgie]

Little white robots do deliveries here..

See them zooming around everywhere but this afternoon one stopped at a zebra crossing, I was driving so stopped to let it cross but it just sat there....I waited, car in opposite direction just drove across.

As it hadn't moved to cross I just drove on. What's correct action?

is it just me who doesn’t know whether to be amazed by these robots or slightly terrified that there’s literally random robots running around the streets?!?

Well, I have both visual problems and joint problems. If one stops in front of me and I trip over it and am injured, the retailer and the manufacturer can expect a law suit.

@beeonmybonnett they don’t really run…just pootle along 😂

The robots have better vision than you do, don't worry. They'll stop before you fall over them.
You'd be falling over them in the same way you might a small child or dog... I. Fact the dog and child are probably more erratic than the badgers

We used to live near a large village that had them. The thinking is that it stops people jumping in their cars to drive less than 3 or 4 miles (round trip) for a pint of milk or some tinned tomatoes. They're not intended for a large shop.

They've got loads of sensors so they don't hit people or cars. They trundle out of the way of people. I think they're a great idea

Yes I am the same, unsteady due to a stroke and arthritis; as well as being severely sight impaired. It's all very well saying they will stop. But we shouldn't have to try to navigate round them.

Where I live we have self-driving cars on the road and they're very sensitive to people and objects around them. Late one night I heard some kerfuffle outside and looked out of the window to see a bunch of lads playing chicken with one of the cars which was trying to cross a junction, but every time it did the lads leapt out in front of it and it stopped. Lasted a couple of minutes before they got bored and left the car to it. I felt quite sorry for it!

@Chersfrozenface

well ain't you a peach!

why so nasty?

The ones round here are pretty impossible to get in your way, the minute you get anywhere near they stop and move away.

If they queue to cross the road surely they narrow the pavements for quite some time if the road is busy, so impacting wheelchair users, especially on already narrow pavements.

I know the answer to this !
The robots are programmed to cross the road itself but that function is disabled in MK. Someone at the control centre sends instructions to the robot when it's safe to cross.

You meet them at street level.

So do they have (surveillance) cameras attached to them?

Just a bag of shopping.
You can have Costa delivered by them too but humans can get here faster so I would pick another delivery company.

The robots have GPS trackers and cameras so that the robot can "see" That feed can be seen at the control centre.

Sometimes you see a black repair van pull up from the robot company when robots get "stuck" or malfunction.

Oh hi, neighbour 😅

These would go the same way as the E Scooter trial in my town, straight into the canal. Which is a shame because they are very cute.

They move out if the way.

No more if an obstruction than people who park on the pavement

I'm in Milton Keynes we've had them years on our estate.

I once encountered three of them piled up on the redway, one has crashed into a bollard and then two others crashed into that one.

I straightened them up and they went on their way.

They are bloody heavy and hard to move so wouldn't be that easy to tip up. They are also covered in security cameras.

Not that stopped the kids from the high school riding them when they first arrived.

OMG that is so funny, and so true in many areas.
They'd never make it round here, too many tourists, they'd be stuck at the crossing till midnight when the traffic slows down.

They seem very robust

I'm surprised many haven't seen these before! I thought they were all over the U.K. by now

Same here. Never seen these.

We have seen them near where one of our DC live. We’re fascinated by them as we don’t have Deliveroo, UberEats or indeed any of that sort of thing where we live. We wonder how far they can travel? They seem to hang around outside the Co-Op but we haven’t seen them beetling off very far from there.

Some cities are cobble so probably wouldn't work.