I imagine there are more legal restrictions than physical restrictions. Is this robot traveling on the road? Is this robot going to be allowed in the store? Will it be allowed to use self-checkout or forced to wait in line like other humans?
Neat idea, but there are some significant hurdles to jump through, especially if you’re building this on your own
At this point I would just go out and buy an e-bike or a moped. Cheaper than a car and you can get stowage crates to carry stuff on them. The robot would end up being impractical due to a myriad of issues.
In theory, absolutely. Problem is that an electric (cargo) bike would be cheaper, easier to use and more “socially acceptable” so to say. The peltier-cooling box could still be a project worth exploring.
I don’t care about legality or social acceptance at all. I just don’t want to have to leave my house EVER. I live out in the country, so I doubt anyone would care. Insofar as vandals, IDK, maybe.
I’d do the electronics, I’d let someone else do the mechanical stuff. Like at the local college. IDK, I’m mostly daydreaming here. More than likely I’ll just fail at one more thing.
Honestly just do the Ebike diy build, will be a good project and it really isnt all that hard. Devember is coming up and there are prizes I am sure hardware dev work would count imo.
A big drone would be a better solution (at least for lightweight stuff), but unfortunately, governments banned the use of drones above a certain dimension. They also banned the use of most of the radio spectrum for personal use, with the exception of maybe 2.4GHz and 5GHz, so there’s basically no solution for long-range direct control. Maybe you could use a SIM and control it via the internet, but you obviously need cell tower coverage.
There are basically 0 options for cheap grocery robots. In the future, we could see, maybe, potentially, some approval of self-driving cars, going to pick up your groceries from a pick-up point at a gigantic store and maybe be allowed to go to a drive-through restaurant and order stuff remotely. But for now, nothing can help you isolate yourself in your house.
Quarantining could be so much easier if people would be allowed to innovate, but no, you needs lotsamoney and literally a personal assistant, or for someone to take pity on you and assist you, or the worse part, buy a car and use muh roads and potentially spread, ifyouknowwhatimean. For bugmen and city dwellers, it should be somewhat cheap with delivery services, but for people living outside big cities, well, literally go kys. It’s not fair, but hey, muh government is restraining your ability to have a decent life “”“for your own good.”"" I sometimes wish roads didn’t exist, so stuff would be at a walking distance. I hate roads.
I agree with most of the sentiments here. A bike or a DIY electric bike would be the best solution at this point. Heck, even a 2nd hand scooter would be good.
If you’re not driving, no need for a car or gas or car insurance. The cost of one month of that would not only cover the cost of premium Instacart membership it would also cover the delivery fees easily. Shopping smart and get orders once a month or biweekly to keep costs down.
Grow a garden for herbs and highly used items. Dry/dehydrate/can what you don’t use to save for times of unavailability.
Totally impractical, if not impossible. Meals on Wheels? Maybe hire a neighbor kid to do the shopping for you. There is a website, nextdoor.com, where you can communicate with people in your area. You can probably find someone there who would be willing to help you out.