Kiwibot Partners with Shopify and Ordermark in San Jose

As delivery robots become more and more common place, one name we keep hearing is Kiwibot. The California based company has tested delivery bots far and wide in places such as Sacramento, California and Medellin, Colombia.

Now they are expanding to San Jose pivoting to a more business to business model. They’ve teamed with Shopify and Ordermark. Shopify is a widely popular e-commerce platform which offers online retailers a suite of services while Ordermark is known for their online ordering management system for restaurants. Kiwibot, which was founded in the South American country of Colombia, began the transition back in January and started to build out the new API so that any business could connect to its platform. 

“We started thinking instead of building the robot infrastructure and the marketplace, let’s focus on just building the robot infrastructure and partner with companies that already have that in mind,” said co-founder and CEO Felipe Chavez.

25 Kiwibot Delivery Robots in San Jose and Buena Vista

25 Kiwibots have hit the streets of downtown San Jose and Buena Vista  delivering both food and goods. The 4 wheel robots are about the size of a cooler and can go up to 3 mph. Onboard sensors and six fully integrated cameras help the delivery robot navigate the streets and avoid anything that may get in the way. They run on a swappable battery which can last about 5 hours on a single charge.

While mostly autonomous, the robots are monitored remotely at all times. Human operators can take control in case of an emergency. The teleoperators also provide path planning along with controlling the bot on all traffic crossings.

As far as ordering goes, Customers simply use an app. Once the bot arrives, it’s hatch can be unlocked via smartphone to receive the order. Kiwibot will charge $3.99 per delivery which businesses can choose to absorb or pass on to customers.

Kiwibot is also working closely with San Jose’s transit agency to allow the city to track and monitor each robot to be tracked and monitored in real time via Mobility Data Specification (MDS). This is the same tech that many cities are using to track shared mobility vehicles such as scooters. All data is anonymous to keep the customer’s personal information private.