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Headline: Ford's Two-Legged Robot Delivers Packages To Your Door

Caption: Ford, best known for its cars, pick-up trucks and SUVs, is experimenting with something totally different: a package-carrying robot. The automaker has announced it's testing a robot to carry deliveries from its self-driving cars to customers' doorsteps. Ford is already piloting deliveries with self-driving cars inspired by the popularity of online shopping. But the company found it was sometimes inconvenient for people to walk outside their homes and take a package from a self-driving car waiting at the curb. So it partnered with Agility Robotics, an Albany, Oregon-based startup that makes a human-like robot capable of carrying 40-pound packages. Ford said the robot, called Digit, can climb steps, walk on uneven terrain or stay balanced even if it's bumped. Digit's arms and legs fold up tight to the torso for storage in the back of an autonomous ride. The idea is that when a self-driving pod or taxi finds itself without passengers, it can serve as a delivery vehicle. When a destination is reached, the back door is opened, Digit unfolds itself, grabs a package and ambles up to the front door to drop it off. Though the robot is equipped with LiDAR and some stereo cameras to help it navigate from the car to the door, it makes use of the mapping information gathered by the autonomous vehicle, from cameras and sensors mounted on the vehicle, which is sent wirelessly to Digit before it sets off on its delivery job. If Digit encounters an unexpected obstacle, it will send an SOS to the vehicle so that a navigation solution can be found. If the car struggles to find a way through, it could itself send a help request to support systems in the cloud.

Keywords: Ford,agility,albany,oregon,robot,feature,photo feature,photo story,tech,technology,design,future,delivery,delivering,post

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