A robot could soon be delivering your Friday night takeaway in Nottingham.
Deliveroo has announced it’s rolling out autonomous delivery robots to five locations across the UK, with Nottingham among the first places set to get them after an initial launch in Canary Wharf.
The four-wheeled robots, developed by US firm Coco Robotics, travel along pavements at walking pace using cameras, sensors and AI technology to transport food orders directly to customers.
While Deliveroo insists most orders will continue to be delivered by human riders, the announcement means Nottingham is about to join a small but growing group of UK towns and cities experimenting with robot deliveries.
Nottingham is one of just four locations chosen for the next phase
After the first robots begin operating in Canary Wharf this month, Deliveroo plans to expand the scheme to Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Stockton-on-Tees over the coming weeks and months.
Initially, the programme will be relatively small, with only selected restaurants and merchants taking part.
But it means Nottingham residents could soon find themselves opening the front door to collect dinner from a robot rather than a cyclist or scooter rider.
It’s a vision of the future that feels surprisingly close.
But Nottingham won’t be the UK’s first robot delivery city
While the launch is new for Nottingham, robot deliveries are nothing new just down the M1.
Milton Keynes has been using autonomous delivery robots since 2018 through Starship Technologies, whose small pavement-based machines have become a familiar sight around the town.
Residents there have spent years ordering groceries and takeaways delivered by robots from retailers including Tesco and Co-op.
Starship says its fleet has now completed millions of deliveries across several countries, making Milton Keynes one of the world’s longest-running real-world examples of robot food delivery.
Should Deliveroo riders be worried?
That’s likely to be the question many people will ask.
Deliveroo is keen to stress that the majority of deliveries will remain with human riders and that the robots are intended to complement existing delivery networks rather than replace them.
The company has not revealed how many deliveries the robots will eventually handle or whether the scheme could expand significantly if it’s successful.
For now, the rollout appears to be more about testing the technology and giving customers another delivery option.
So, whether you think they look helpful, futuristic or slightly unsettling, one thing is certain: it may not be long before a little wheeled robot is making its way through Nottingham carrying someone’s burger, pizza or late-night kebab.
And unlike your usual Deliveroo rider, it probably won’t get stuck in traffic.
