Skippy by Carbon Origins
Here comes Skippy! The delivery robot, which resembles a small wagon with a head and neck that looks a bit like an old phone receiver, may soon deliver your pizza or burgers. Eventually, it might be able to work behind the scenes in a commercial kitchen or on a manufacturing line. Skippy was designed to navigate obstacles in complex environments and communicate and interact with people. Creator Amogha Krishna Srirangarajan has been obsessed with robots as far back as he can remember. In 2018, he founded Carbon Origins, a Minneapolis-based company with a mission to “make robots commonplace.” The two main factors limiting robots from becoming part of our everyday world, Srirangarajan says, are urban autonomy and human-robot interaction. So, as Skippies traverse the physical world, human “Skipsters” can direct them in virtual reality, via app. Restaurants pay a commission to Carbon Origins for the use of a Skippy, just as they would to other delivery services. A couple of Skippies are currently in service in Minneapolis, including at Fletcher’s Ice Cream in Northeast. Carbon Origins plans to expand the fleet to 30 by May. So far, Skippy’s focus is deliveries, but Srirangarajan says the technology applies to many different industries including manufacturing, agriculture, and food service. Carbon Origins is looking to the stars—literally. Eventually, Srirangarajan says, Skippies could even go to space to mine for rare metals.
