Swiss Post said Tuesday that plans to test autonomous robots as a complementary delivery solution for special items that need to be sent flexibly, quickly and cheaply will kick off in the municipalities of Berne, Koniz and Biberist in September 2016.

"Some of the conceivable applications include same-day and same-hour delivery, grocery deliveries or even home deliveries of medical products," Swiss Post said in a statement.

"This kind of ad-hoc logistics on the last mile is currently not covered by mail carriers, which is why delivery robots may one day provide a useful extension to Swiss Post's supply chain," it added.

Traveling at walking pace on pavements and pedestrian zones, the models supplied by Starship Technologies have a load capacity of up to 10 kilograms and are able to cover around 6 kilometres.

If successful, Swiss Post is expected to implement the first commercial application of the new delivery system in three years' time at the earliest.

Source : XINHUA