Meet Starship - the delivery robot that wants to carry your shopping for you

Meet Starship - the delivery robot that wants to carry your shopping for you
Meet Starship - the delivery robot that wants to carry your shopping for you

If you thought Amazon's drone delivery scheme is too much of a pie-in-the-sky idea, then meet Starship - the delivery bot that's a whole lot more grounded.

Created by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, the Starship is an autonomous vehicle that wants to be the delivery device for 'last mile' journeys - those times when businesses need to get goods delivered in a close proximity but don't want to spend money on an extortionate courier.

The Starship was shown off at MWC 2016 and we would love to say that we saw it at work, but when we went to see the vehicle it was currently 'between battery charges'.

Starship's makers assured me, however, that when it is fully charged it will drive for a good two miles and trot along at around 4 miles an hour.

Starship

London is one of the cities where Starship is being trialed, so when you are next in Greenwich, keep an eye out for it in the confines of the Tube station.

Greenwich is a pretty apt place for trials, given it is also the area of London where self-driving cars are being tested.

As for space, the Starship will hold packages up to 18kg (40lbs) in size and there are nine cameras on board to make sure that it doesn't bump into anyone while it is traveling. Even if it does, it will be akin to getting attacked by a tourist's suitcase, and whoever has summoned Starship can track its progress on an app.

Starship

The makers of Starship are hoping that it will go into full production in 2017. When techradar asked what the reaction has been like when the public see Starship in motion, the reply was: "No one has wanted to kick it yet." Which is good to know.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.

Latest in Tech
Apple iPhone 16e
Which affordable phone wins the mid-range race: the iPhone 16e, Nothing 3a, or Samsung Galaxy A56? Our latest podcast tells all
The Apple MacBook Air next to the Dyson Supersonic R and new AMD GPU
ICYMI: the week's 7 biggest tech stories from the best tech at MWC to Apple's new iPads and MacBooks
A triptych image featuring the Bose Solo Soundbar 2, Nothing Phone 3a Pro and the Panasonic Lumix S1R II.
5 trailblazing tech reviews of the week: Nothing's stylish, affordable flagship and why you should buy AMD's new graphics card over Nvidia's
The best tech of MWC 2025 examples, including the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, the Nubia Flip 2, and the Lenovo Solar PC
Best of MWC 2025: the 10 top tech launches we tried on the show floor
Toy Fair 2025 Primal Hatch
The 7 best toys we saw at Toy Fair 2025, from a Lego boat to a hatching, robotic dinosaur
ICYMI
ICYMI: the 7 biggest tech stories of the week, from a next-gen Alexa to the new iPhone 16e
Latest in News
Jason Sudeikis' Ted Lasso pointing at someone in Ted Lasso season 2
Believe it, baby: Ted Lasso season 4 is officially in development for Apple TV+ – and Jason Sudeikis will reprise his role as the titular soccer coach
Rainbow Six Siege X promotional art.
The Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X 6v6 mode might finally pull me away from Black Ops 6
A close up of the new web version of Apple Music Classical
Apple Music Classical is now available on the web, but its Mac app is still nowhere in sight
Silent Hill f
Silent Hill f will present players with 'a beautiful yet terrifying choice', and I can't wait to see what it is
Google Chromecast 2
Google is finally rolling out a fix for broken Chromecasts – just as new bugs appear on the Chromecast with Google TV
Garmin Instinct 3 in Neotropic Green
"I'm an idiot": Garmin user reveals how fixing one setting completely changed their training after months of making no progress