Megan Keesee, PR Director at Starship Technologies, demonstrates the loading of goods into a robot courier. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / San Francisco Chronicle

In December 2017, the dislike of San Francisco residents for robots was implemented in a legal ban. At the request of the population, the city administration at the end of last year adopted the most severe restrictions for robots that move along sidewalks with pedestrians. Formally, they were not banned, but the requirements were so harsh that in reality, the activity of robot messengers became almost impossible.

The new bill limited the number of autonomous robots on the sidewalks (three for each company, no more than nine at a time in the whole city) and banned them in densely populated areas. In addition, robots were forced to move only in the presence of an accompanying person .
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Naturally, the companies for the delivery of goods by robots were not happy with the new rules. The first gave up Starship Technologies. The founders of the company, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, said they are removing robots from the “unfriendly city” to focus on work where there are no such draconian rules.

How it all began

Starship Technologies robot, surrounded by journalists, is preparing for the first delivery of goods in San Francisco in 2016. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / San Francisco Chronicle

In 2016, several companies, including Marble and Starship Technologies, began road tests of self-propelled robotic couriers to deliver food and other goods directly to customers' doors: to offices and homes. Such robots promised to bring convenience to citizens and reduce traffic congestion, reducing the number of road transport. The reality was different.

Soon, the city began cases of strange and inexplicable aggression against robots. The main objects of hatred were unmanned vehicles , but the rest of the robots, too, got it. For example, in December 2017, the SPCA Californian animal shelter had to be removed from the street by a Knightscope robot guard who patrolled the organization’s building, due to numerous complaints from local residents and homeless people - they complained that the robot was “disturbing” them. In most cases, people were simply unhappy with the presence of the robot on the street and wrote complaints, but one person was reported to “spread out the tarpaulin, knock down the robot and cover all its sensors with barbecue sauce.”

The photo below shows one of the robots Starship Technologies, which a local resident knocked off the wheels and left to lie in such a helpless position. The photo was taken on February 23, 2018 by one of the passersby who showed sympathy and helped the robot to climb onto the wheels.


Obviously, now other startups that are developing courier robots, including the company Marble, whose robot is shown in the photo below, can wind down a business in San Francisco.


Marble robot for delivery of food and other goods, the height of the robot is about 1 meter. Photo: Susana Bates / San Francisco Chronicle

“This is only San Francisco. There are many cities that welcome our robots and want to work with us, ”said Ahti Heinla, CEO of Starship Technologies. “Therefore, the situation in San Francisco is not a problem for us.”

The local press writes that there is a kind of social conflict in San Francisco. On the one hand, the most advanced technology companies are concentrated in the city and its environs, and the streets of San Francisco have become a testing ground for testing unmanned vehicles and various robots. Exotic vehicles are popular with geeks: electric scooters, hoverboards, wheels, and so on.


Electric scooters have become very popular in San Francisco. Photo: Facebook / spinrides

On the other hand, the city is full of homeless people who have no money to rent an apartment. Probably, the homeless are annoyed by such a high-tech attack on their hometown.


“I rode a bicycle around SoMa this afternoon,” wrote one of the locals. “In just 15 minutes, I saw a new model of a walking robot, one car with an autopilot, and dozens of homeless people. The future is not very cool. ”