Affected by the epidemic situation and the promotion of the "new infrastructure" policy, the unmanned delivery industry has developed rapidly. In the previous anti-epidemic measurement in Wuhan, many well-known enterprises launched out the unmanned distribution vehicles, realizing the "Contactless Delivery" express logistics distribution and transportation.

Unmanned distribution means that there is no or only a few humanforce participation in the circulation of goods. In a simple way, it is a simple version of automatic driving. With AI as the core, combined with high-precision maps and various sensors and other technologies, it realizes the distribution mode of replacing manual or human-computer cooperation with machines, so as to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Intelligent detection equipment becomes one of the main means for epidemic prevention

With the technology development, the unmanned delivery vehicle, not only regarded as a distribution and delivery vehicle, but also offers body temperature measurement function in residential areas, airports, stations, and other places.

This is important in some entry-exit checkpoints and small-scale COVID-19 outbreak areas. The traditional hand-held temperature gun needs a lot of humanforce, and the detection precision and efficiency are difficult to control. At this time, many intelligent detection equipment are introduced to these application sites. 

Generally speaking, we need to consider five aspects of unmanned delivery vehicles.

Firstly, running independently

The unmanned delivery vehicle also called as distribution robot, it should have strong independent thinking ability and computing ability, and use sensors composed of multiple cameras or radars, as well as a high-resolution 3D city map, to efficiently cross the busy city streets. It can find its own destination, identify and "remember" the route. Through machine learning, it can realize autonomous navigation, accurately identify traffic light signals, and stop at the distribution point. It not only gets on the elevator and perceives the congestion of the elevator, but also recognizes the pedestrians and vehicles on the road, and plan the route intelligently. At the same time, through optimizing the delivery route, reduce accidents and labor input, in order to achieve the purpose of cost-saving. In addition, the information between all delivery robots is shared, which greatly reduces the learning cost for robots.

For this problem, a stable and reliable embedded fanless PC is needed, it should operate normally in an outdoor harsh environment and support 24/7 hours long time operation. Besides, it needs to meet the requirements of compact small size, strong and reliable. It needs to be equipped with a serial of ports, such as USB, CAN, LAN, etc. These multi-I/O interfaces are designed to connect laser module, infrared thermal imaging module, camera module, a battery detection module, servo motor, and other devices to coordinate work. And its high-performance processing ability will ensure the inspection accuracy of the unmanned vehicle.

Secondly, safety and obstacle avoidance

The distribution robot usually adopts the parallel scheme of laser and vision, which can observe the surrounding complex environment, and establish its own multi-dimensional world in the system. The adaptive algorithm is used to accurately predict the trajectory of dynamic entities and avoid pedestrians, vehicles, and other objects. The built-in navigation system should limit the maximum speed for the sake of safety. The delivery robot is also equipped with a position tracking and obstacle sensor to avoid collision during delivery. For the scene of walking at night, the robot must also be equipped with a set of infrared thermal imagers, which can be used for navigation at night. Considered the harsh weather conditions, the dustproof and waterproof design should be added.

Touch Think 15.6-inch industrial touch screen monitor embedded into the distribution robot, displaying the customers’ order information, and customers can take out their goods by scanning the payment barcode or pickup code on the monitor.

This touch screen monitor haves the following features:

1. IP65 dustproof and waterproof for the surface panel.

2. The front panel of the display is only 3mm, perfectly embedded in the unmanned delivery vehicle with highly seamless and offering a more beautiful vision.

3. The monitor is made of aluminum alloy, and the front panel is made of wire drawing, offers a more high-end texture and fits the user's product positioning.

4. Since unmanned distribution vehicles are mostly used outdoors, this monitor offers a brightness of 800nits. It can be clearly displayed under outdoor sunlight, which is convenient for monitoring personnel to observe the temperature data of pedestrians when it acts as the temperature measurement robot.

5. In terms of the interface, it adopts an aviation standard design, it is durable for a long time outdoor use.

6. This industrial grade monitor offers multiple customized services such as size, screen performance and use environment.

Thirdly, cargo capacity and storage

As a delivery tool, how many packages can be carried in each delivery should be considered. Some large delivery robots, designed to carry a load of 100 kg, carry up to 200 pieces small parcels, equivalent to the daily delivery capacity of a courier. However, the heavier the load, the greater the power consumption. Advanced distribution robots are said to be able to travel 100 kilometers on a single charge, but they may run out of power only 60 kilometers during the whole heavy load. Therefore, there are also cargo tanks designed to be modular, which can be exchanged at stations along the route according to the payload. In addition, in order to meet the distribution needs of different goods, such as raw and cold seafood or cooked food, the delivery robot also has customized refrigeration or heating devices. Such a storage environment also has no effect on the Touch Think embedded fanless PC or the industrial touch screen monitor, because both of them offer excellent stable performance in a wide temperature environment, such as -20~60°C.

Fourthly, human-computer interaction

After placing an order through the mobile app, users will send service requirements to the robot. The distribution robot will connect with the transportation management system (TMS) to plan the optimal distribution route and send the goods to the designated destination. Some distribution robots also equipped with a face recognition system. After arriving at the destination, the system will send the pick-up information to the user, the user can select face recognition, input verification code, click the mobile app link, and other ways to pick up the goods.

Fifthly, application fields

The unmanned delivery vehicle developed to realize the contactless distribution and delivery won't emit any exhaust gas and move quietly. These two advantages mean that they can drive when the traffic is restricted in the city, and it can also deliver goods in residential areas at night, won't cause any noise pollution. At present, in addition to delivering the express packages, the unmanned delivery vehicle also offers indoor and outdoor food distribution services in the food plaza and even realize the delivery task from the restaurant to the residence. What's more, the unmanned distribution robot provides service involves restaurants, pharmacies, fresh supermarkets, clothing department stores, dry cleaning, and other fields. It will be extended to more applications in the future.