Milton Keynes to trial bigger level 4 autonomous robots for last mile deliveries

Parcel delivery company DPD is to utilise multi-compartment, level 4 autonomous locker robots in last-mile delivery services in Milton Keynes.

With a maximum payload of 70kg, the “Ottobot” is larger than DPD’s existing autonomous delivery robots and has eight separate compartments.

The robot, developed by Californian company Ottonomy, features four-wheel powered swerve drive with independent steering and suspension, while multiple sensors including light detection and ranging lidars and cameras enable it to navigate complex environments autonomously.

Ottonomy has been operating autonomous robot deliveries in Milton Keynes since July 2022, using smaller Cartken robots, which in the UK have also since been rolled out in Raunds, Bristol, and Lincoln.

The Ottobot will be based at DPD’s Milton Keynes depot in Knowlhill and will navigate the city’s traffic-free Redway network to access nearby residential neighbourhoods.

Once the locker robots have completed the mapping process, they operate fully autonomously. From that point, customers will receive a message when the robot is outside their property and will use a pin to open the robot and collect their parcels.

Director of marketing, communications & sustainability at DPD group UK Tim Jones said, “This is the next chapter for us in terms of autonomous deliveries after a very successful roll-out across a number of different locations. We’ve also learned a lot in terms of how best to deploy the technology and how to maximise the effectiveness of the robots day to day.”