Robots have become ubiquitous in assembly lines, doing everything from manhandling a car to assembling a smartphone. They are fast, accurate, and do not require breaks or overtime pay. They have been unfeeling, literally, which often makes them hazardous to us humans.
Robots have killed and injured their human counterparts, but this usually occurs because safety mechanisms have allowed them to continue to operate after a person has moved into the space reserved for robotic operation. These types of production robots are typically caged, either physically with barriers or electronically with optical or ultrasonic “curtains.”
These restrictions have changed, though. So beware, cobots, the truncated word for cooperative robots, may be coming to a street near you (Fig. 1). For example, Marble’s robot is controlled by an Nvidia Jetson TX1, delivering food in San Francisco’s Mission and Potrero Hill districts that was ordered using a Yelp Eat24 app. These autonomous ground delivery vehicles (ok, they are tiny self-driving cars) roll along the sidewalk with their tasty treats, avoiding people, cars, and pets while cruising at walking speeds to the intended diners.