Autonomous Delivery Vehicle
Problem statement
Imagine showing up to a quiz and realizing you forgot your calculator. Instead of missing the start of the quiz to run home and grab it, you submit a request and a Roomba promptly shows up with a backup calculator. You didn’t have to miss any of the quiz! Now, imagine being able to request the delivery of any item readily stocked inside the Mechanical Engineering building. This dream could soon become a reality, as autonomous delivery vehicles already have significant public backing. According to a survey of 483 people, 61% of respondents were in favor of autonomous delivery over manual delivery, and this number is expected to surge with growing awareness of autonomous delivery vehicles [1]. With this increasing public approval of autonomous delivery vehicles, adding one in the Mechanical Engineering building would be a great showcase of the cutting-edge technology and innovation occurring in the newly built second-floor design lab as well as the Mechanical Engineering department as a whole. An autonomous delivery vehicle would make UW-Madison’s Engineering department stand out to prospective students and donors while benefiting the department’s current students and faculty. While similar robots may ultimately be desired in other engineering buildings, it must be remembered that our delivery vehicle will likely only be able to function in the specific environment that we design it for [2]. We hope to provide our clients, Professor Cheadle and the rest of the UW-Madison Mechanical Engineering department, with a baseline for a robust delivery system for the second floor of the Mechanical Engineering building with proper documentation to allow for a smooth project transition for future groups. [1] A. Pani, S. Mishra, M. Golias, and M. Figliozzi, “Evaluating public acceptance of autonomous delivery robots during COVID-19 pandemic,” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, vol. 89, p. 102600, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.trd.2020.102600 (Links to an external site.). [2] M. Law et al., “Case studies on the usability, acceptability and functionality of autonomous mobile delivery robots in real-world healthcare settings,” Intel Serv Robotics, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 387–398, Jul. 2021, doi: 10.1007/s11370-021-00368-5 (Links to an external site.).
Team members
Shawn Reimer – leader
James Ruby – communicator
Ian Henry – accountant
James Ruby – admin
Client
Michael Cheadle, UW-Madison