A food delivery robot stuck on an icy sidewalk stuns a passerby as it politely thanks him for his help
- The Starship food delivery robot politely thanked the man for his help on the icy pavement
- Local Graham Smith, from Cambridge, said the ‘mite’ was stuck on a pavement
- He pushed the robot up and he said “thank you, have a nice day” to his shock
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A tiny delivery robot surprised a passerby by ‘politely thanking’ him for his help after getting stuck on an icy sidewalk.
This week, a passerby spotted a Starship food delivery robot struggling to find a way up the large icy sidewalk of Cambridge.
Graham Smith of Cherry Hinton in Cambridge immediately came to the aid of the bot at Checkers Close on Tuesday.
He said: ‘I saw this poor little mite trying to negotiate a high, slippery pavement at Checkers Close earlier today, the wheels spinning like crazy.
A Starship food delivery robot (pictured) got stuck on an icy pavement in Cambridge on Tuesday, but was freed by local Graham Smith The robot thanked him and wished him a good day
Starship delivery robots, affectionately known as ‘grocery badgers’, have taken over the city of Cambridge to deliver groceries to residents
Mr Smith and his partner Sybil Crisford then gave him an encouraging push down the pavement.
He then surprised them by saying “thank you, have a nice day” before walking away.
Mr Smith added: ‘Should he have gone out alone in those weather conditions? There wasn’t even a scarf!
His post about the bot on a local Facebook group drew hundreds of likes and dozens of people sharing their concern for the bot’s well-being.
Starship robots have charmed Cambridge residents with their polite manners, chirps and adorable light-up flags over the autumn after they were rolled out en masse across the city.
The robots affectionately known as ‘grocery badgers’ have taken over the city of Cambridge delivering groceries to residents and can be seen queuing outside supermarkets to take orders as needed.
The robots (file photo) use sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to navigate
The robots use sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to navigate, but freezing conditions last week appear to have made it difficult for the wheels to overcome slippery curbs.
One commenter wrote “I think the extreme weather test looks like a fail” for the bot, but Mr Smith said he would give it an “A” for his efforts.
He also joked that the group should throw a “Stop Cruelty to Automata” party.
Alan Trim wrote: “Even if they are there to replace us, they are adorable…”
A Starship spokesperson said: “Robots perform more than 140,000 level crossings worldwide every day, or nearly one every three seconds.
“Most of these crossings are done autonomously, but in the rare cases where assistance is needed, the robots can be monitored remotely.
“It’s also true that once in a while the robots don’t hesitate to ask a friendly resident for help, especially in a new area they recently started mapping.”
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