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4 months ago
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We’ve been working on autonomous delivery robots since 2019. Over the years, we’ve developed several generations of robots, each undergoing numerous changes. The design has evolved, sensors and their placements have been updated, and chips and batteries have been improved. However, one thing remained constant: each robot, regardless of its generation, had six wheels. In our new model, we’ve transitioned to a fundamentally different and groundbreaking chassis design. Today, we’ll share the amazing capabilities this design unlocks and explain how it works.
Pros and Cons of Six Wheels
The primary advantage of a six-wheel configuration is its simplicity. To drive straight and make turns, you don’t need to develop complex control algorithms. Six wheels provide excellent stability for straight-line movement and allow confident turns on various surfaces.
However, despite the high stability and rough-terrain capability, this design has some drawbacks. The six-wheel chassis doesn’t have steering wheels, so turning is achieved by braking one wheel relative to another. This creates significant additional friction during turns, which immediately impacts energy consumption. The graph below shows how energy consumption spikes during turns compared to straight-line movement. This difference can be almost 3 times. Not to mention the faster tire wear due to the same excessive friction during turns.
Additionally, the six-wheel chassis, due to its fundamental design features, has lower maneuverability and less precise trajectory execution, especially on inclined surfaces. While this isn’t a critical safety issue, improving these parameters can significantly enhance the robot’s efficiency and average speed, particularly in areas with high pedestrian traffic.
Introducing Our New Four-Wheel Chassis
To tackle the challenges mentioned earlier, our team has developed a completely new chassis concept. This innovative design not only addresses the issue of increased friction during turns but also significantly boosts the robot’s maneuverability and precision.
The robot’s wheels are mounted on movable arms attached to a pivoting axle. To change the turning angle, a wheel moves slightly forward or backward along a circular path centered on the arm’s attachment point. This design allows the wheels to rotate both inward and outward, reducing friction during turns.
Instead of using traditional front and rear axles, the wheels are mechanically connected in pairs on each side. This setup allows for simultaneous adjustment of the turning angles of both wheels on each side, enabling precise positioning for executing maneuvers.
Our robots can now make a 180-degree turn almost instantly. This is particularly useful for navigating narrow sidewalks, where the robot might need to reverse to make way for people with limited mobility.
Parking on an incline is now effortless and energy-efficient. By setting the wheels in a cross pattern, the robot stays put without rolling away.
With enhanced control precision, we can safely increase the robot’s maximum speed and also improve the speed of maneuvers. This means faster deliveries for our customers.
Advanced Control System
Our control algorithm calculates the exact angles needed for the wheels to accurately follow the robot’s designated path. Additionally, it determines the required torque for each wheel to rotate it swiftly to the intended angle.
By adjusting the torque, we can reposition the wheels without additional steering motors. However, our robots still have two steering motors, one on each side, to increase reliability. If one of the drive motors fails, the steering motor will handle the wheel’s positioning, and the remaining three drive motors will provide enough power to keep the robot moving until it can be picked up for repair. This feature enhances the robot’s autonomy and ensures reliable service without requiring a human assistant to be present in the area of operations.
Robust Brain
At the core of our new robot lies the NVIDIA Jetson Orin™ platform — widely recognized as one of the best solutions for edge AI, industrial robotics and autonomous systems. Designed to handle complex environments, Jetson Orin enables our robots to operate neural networks as sophisticated as those found in our full-size autonomous vehicles, processing vast amounts of sensor data, including lidar inputs and camera feeds in real time. This level of computational power, in addition to NVIDIA software, enables our robots to make quick, intelligent decisions on the go, ensuring safe and reliable navigation.
What makes Jetson Orin particularly impressive is its flexibility and efficiency. It’s built to withstand industrial demands with a durable and compact form factor, resilient even under challenging conditions. Jetson Orin offers a highly adaptive energy profile, from ultra-low standby power to full power modes, efficiently balancing performance with energy needs, making it both powerful and remarkably energy efficient. With Jetson Orin as its “brain,” our robot is prepared to tackle complex urban settings with advanced autonomy, all while maintaining long operational hours — up to 13 hours of continuous movement.
Versatile Cargo Compartment
We’ve made significant upgrades to both the chassis and the cargo compartment. The new cargo compartment is fully detachable, so it doesn’t interfere with the robot’s main structure, allowing for easy swaps with other compartments tailored for specific delivery tasks.
The standard cargo compartment is spacious enough to hold several large pizzas and drinks, or multiple grocery bags. For multi-order deliveries, it can be divided into separate sections, and a new sliding lid mechanism provides access to only the designated section, ensuring each customer receives their specific order. This precise lid control enhances delivery flexibility, while other types of compartments, like an open cart, are available for specialized operations, including indoor deliveries.
Animated LED Panel
Delivery robots are still a relatively new sight on city streets, so it’s important for people to feel comfortable around them. This primarily depends on the quality of the autonomous driving technology. The robot should not impede pedestrians or drivers, and its behavior should be predictable. However, appearance is also a key factor.
In designing the new generation, our designers focused on making the robot look friendly and approachable. Rounded shapes, neutral colors, and most importantly, an animated LED panel contribute to this. The various eye expressions not only “bring the robot to life” but also create a sense of interaction for clients when the robot looks around or winks after delivering an order. The panel animations can also be themed for different occasions, such as holidays or significant local events.
From the Factory to the Streets
The new robots are being mass-produced at a factory in Taiwan, with their numbers set to grow. To ensure they are street-ready as quickly as possible, we perform several quality checks directly at the factory. After assembly, each robot undergoes rigorous testing. For example, during the roll test, they operate for nearly an hour in challenging conditions on a specialized stand with high temperatures (55°C/131°F), different angles, and varying resistance. We also assess movement on different surfaces, water resistance, vibration resistance, and perform a static test. Once all tests are passed, the robots are shipped to their designated locations, ready to begin making deliveries upon arrival. Their first deliveries are set to begin soon in the Mueller neighborhood in Austin, where Avride robots have been delivering orders from local restaurants since 2023. Over time, the new robots will gradually join our fleet as manufacturing continues at the factory.
