getting stuck<\/a> in the snow.<\/p>\nThe battery-powered machines use cameras and sensors to navigate sidewalks, cross streets and avoid pedestrians.<\/p>\n
But Caity Collins says she had too close of an encounter with one.<\/p>\n
“The other day I was walking, and one rammed straight into the back of my leg. And it’s not great,” said Collins, who works at The Pasta Bowl in Lincoln Park.<\/p>\n
Lincoln Park is one of the neighborhoods where delivery robots are common, especially at dinner time.<\/p>\n
Ethan Venzon says, at times, several robots have waited outside the restaurant for deliveries.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes it’s kind of in the way. It takes up a lot of the sidewalk,” Venzon said.<\/p>\n
It’s that congestion that prompted Josh Robertson to start a petition calling for the city to hit pause on the robots and provide more safety data, saying sidewalks are for people.<\/p>\n
So far, he’s gotten 2,500 people to sign on.<\/p>\n
“We’re getting reports of collisions with people, with pets, with bicyclists, getting reports of obstruction,” Robertson said.<\/p>\n
Vignesh Ram, with Serve Robotics, one of two companies that have introduced the delivery bots to Chicago, says he’s aware of the petition and welcomes any feedback.<\/p>\n
Ram says the robots make deliveries no farther than a mile and a half away, and have less of an impact on the environment.<\/p>\n
“Robots at the end of the day carry 1\/3,000th the kinetic energy of a car. They travel more slowly. They don’t present the risk that cars that do deliveries can do,” Ram said.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, a couple of Chicago aldermen recently sent out surveys to their constituents, asking for their feedback on the delivery bots. That information is still being gathered.<\/p>\n
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