Starship’s Delivery Robot May Be Coming to a Sidewalk Near You

Form and function
The suitcase-size, 25-pound Starship robot travels on sidewalks at up to 4 miles per hour to deliver as much as 20 pounds of groceries and other goods to a customer’s door.

Innovator: Ahti Heinla
Age: 44
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Starship Technologies, a 45-person London startup

1. Specs
The six-wheeled electric vehicle uses a 3G or 4G Internet connection and mapping software to find its way from a retailer to customers who’ve placed orders via an app or a website.

Origin: Heinla, who co-founded Skype, learned to code from his mother while growing up in Estonia. He brought together the engineering team for Starship in July 2014.

Early tests: Starship has tested its robots on sidewalks in 22 cities in the U.S. and Europe.