Autonomous grocery deliveries have arrived in Northampton following the expansion of Co-op’s partnership with robot developer Starship Technologies.
Currently available from eight Co-op stores in and around Milton Keynes, the service has now been extended to the retailer’s store in Wootton Fields, Northampton.
Around 5,000 households in the communities of Wootton and Hardingstone will be served with contactless deliveries, with the robots typically travelling up to three miles from the store.
This means Northampton residents can access groceries delivered by robot through the Starship Food Delivery app, choosing from a range of more than 1,000 food or drink items from the Co-op.
To do so, users drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent, and can watch in real-time as the robot makes its journey via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert and can then meet and unlock it through the app.
The robots use a combination of sensors, artificial intelligence and machine-learning to travel on pavements and navigate around obstacles, while computer vision-based navigation helps the robots to map their environment.
Furthermore, the battery-powered robots can also help to reduce both pollution and traffic congestion levels.
Chris Conway, head of e-commerce at Co-op, said: “Our partnership with Starship enables Co-op to offer further availability, flexibility and choice to meet community shopping needs for on-demand convenience.
“We have seen big changes in e-commerce this year with new customers using the channel that have never used it before, and seeing the benefits.”
Co-op said it has ambitions to use as many as 300 of Starship’s robots by the end of 2021 as it looks for more towns and cities to operate autonomous deliveries after launching in Milton Keynes in 2018.
According to Co-op, demand for the robot service soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, with delivery numbers for its products tripling in Milton Keynes alone in recent months. The most popular items delivered include milk, eggs, bread, bananas and cucumber.
Andrew Curtis, head of UK operations at Starship Technologies, said: “We have been humbled by the fantastic reception to our robots from local communities in Milton Keynes over the last two and a half years.
“[Northampton] is the next step in our growth ambitions as Starship looks to further roll out our services across the UK following increasing demand during the pandemic.”
Co-op has also ramped up its online offer to meet demand, and claimed to be on track to offer online on-demand convenience, through its own online shop and with partners, from more than 1,000 of its stores by the end of 2020 – surpassing its estimate of 650 stores that it made at the start of the year.
Orders are fulfilled through the Co-op online shop and through its partnerships with Starship Technologies, Deliveroo, Buymie in Bristol and Pinga in East London, in under one hour and up to seven days in advance.
