Alibaba announced two tech innovations at its Cainiao Network 2018 Global Smart Logistics Summit yesterday, May 31, to take care of delivery issues. There’s a storage locker with facial recognition to keep food warm, named Cainiao box, and it can be installed right out the door.
The more anticipating one is the robot named G Plus that’s going to deliver online-purchased goods to consumers. It is presently being road-tested at Hangzhou in eastern China, where the headquarters of Alibaba is located. Bettering its predecessors, the driverless delivery robot possesses the extended stamina to cover long distances.
Alibaba G Plus has a loading box that adjusts size as per the package. Alibaba claims that it can even deliver fresh food. It has a maximum speed of 9.3 miles per hour but reduces to 6.2mph when it detects that its path forward has more traffic. Its built-in navigation system based on LIDAR helps create a 3D map to see the path.
After reaching the destination, the Alibaba delivery robot, G Plus, either deposits the package or the consumer enters a PIN code and receives their order. Alibaba has plans to start commercial production for G Plus by the end of 2018.
G Plus is the world’s first solid-state LIDAR unmanned logistics vehicle. Developed jointly by RoboSense and Cainiao Network of Alibaba, it is equipped with three RS-LiDAR-M1Pres. Two in front and one in the rear provide the most powerful 3D perception for moving.
RS-LiDAR-M1Pre is solid-state LiDAR technology and the first MEMS solid-state LiDAR developed by RoboSense. Showcased at CES 2018, it is the evolution of traditional mechanical multi-beam radars.
This mem requires only a few laser emitters and receivers for scanning in both directions via swing angle. It delivers fine, high, and vertical-angle resolution, grandly reducing cost and increasing reliability and yield. Additionally, its miniaturization improves stability at a high rate.
