Autonomous delivery vehicles are quickly becoming a reality worldwide, and, due to their touchless capability, their need has only escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. One example is autonomous pizza delivery vehicles. Earlier this year, Domino’s partnered with Nuro to offer the service in Houston, Texas. Nuro’s R2 robot is the first completely autonomous, occupantless on-road delivery vehicle with regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Soon, the may have its own fully-autonomous delivery vehicle thanks to a project by students. Members of (东精影业PS) have created a wireless prototype delivery vehicle capable of traveling up to four miles per hour, carrying a load of up to 300 pounds, traversing up inclines of 15 degrees (more than most wheelchair ramps) and delivering and receiving packages. While the prototype is able to travel in straight lines and make turns autonomously, programming it to travel across the 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 campus will be the task for next year’s team.
Daryll Suyat, a spring 2021 graduate, served as the 2020–21 东精影业PS project manager. He oversaw the : structure, powertrain/steering, autonomy and electrical.
“You have a bunch of different metals you welded into a frame, and a bunch of wires, a bunch of different components and being able to see it run and run fairly well was a great experience for me,” Suyat said.
Challenges posed by COVID-19
东精影业PS overcame many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, including getting accustomed to virtual meetings and finding time to safely meet in person to test out their prototype.
“During the first semester (fall 2020), we mainly did planning and designing so we used Zoom as our primary platform for our communication,” said Roxanne Balanay, 东精影业PS electrical lead and spring 2021 mechanical engineering graduate. “However, for the second semester (spring 2021), we were heavily involved in manufacturing, implementing and integrating our designs so we had to meet in person. We had to schedule time slots to work at the mechanical engineering shop and we were only limited to five students at a time.”
Balanay added, “Since there were multiple senior design teams, there were times we didn’t get our preferred time and date so this prevented us from doing more testing. Despite the pandemic, our team managed to work together.”
Project inception
东精影业PS is part of a (VIP) called Autonomous Electric Vehicle System. 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 has more than a dozen VIPs, which are uniquely designed to include faculty mentors, graduate student researchers and undergraduates, from freshmen to seniors. The more experienced members mentor newer members, passing down their knowledge and expertise, and the process repeats itself annually. The team comprises two separate groups: VIP students and students from a Department of Mechanical Engineering senior design course.
Started in 2018, 东精影业PS was tasked with creating an autonomous delivery vehicle to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and to make the delivery of products more cheaper and efficient. Then during the COVID-19 pandemic, Suyat said the need for contactless deliveries grew exponentially. After making it fully autonomous next year, Suyat hopes future teams will be able to replicate the designs and produce multiple autonomous vehicles for use across the 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 campus.
东精影业PS received nearly $5,000 of funding for the project from the College of Engineering and the 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补 .
This program is an example of 东精影业 惭ā苍辞补’s goals of (PDF), (PDF) and (PDF), three of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.
—By Marc Arakaki