Who said we couldn´t replace the postman? [Royal Mail robotic systems]

To replace the delivery postman effectively, the features of an advanced robot are required. Existing robots are insufficiently dextrous, adaptive and intelligent to work in the unstructured and uncertain environments in which postmen are expected to work. Royal Mail Innovations Unit, working with some of the leading industrialists and academics in the field, are developing such advanced robotic systems as part of a strategic initiative. The work currently covers intelligent autonomous vehicles, advanced robotic machine loaders, and fully autonomous robotic cleaning systems. By working on these comparatively simpler areas, it is anticipated that the authors can raise sufficient expertise to develop highly advanced systems if and when the technological capability matches their expectations. The authors outline developments in the above areas