Domino's Goes High-Tech with Prototype Delivery Robot

Domino's aims to be at the forefront of pizza technology (or something) with the unveiling of their prototype delivery robot over in Australia, which they've named DRU (Domino's Robotic Unit).

DRU is a four wheeled automated vehicle with compartments to keep both hot and cold items at their respective temperatures. Rather than taking to the streets, the robot seems to mostly travel on the sidewalk and is able to navigate from starting point to destination with sensors that help it perceive and avoid obstacles. It has already been involved in a number of customer deliveries during testing. You can see it in action below:

The robotic unit was developed withing Domino's own internal laboratory (which they call "DLAB"). Like Google's Self-Driving Car concept, Domino's prototype sets the stage for a legislative and regulatory framework concerning autonomous drones (which the company has also looked into) and cars.

For those wondering about theft or vandalism of the unit, comments by company reps seem to indicated that it will have both surveillance and security measures.

I could see this maybe working for locations with a lot of population density but I would guess, if anything comes of this, the final result will be a self-driving delivery car of some sort (but not a pizza thrower).

Image via Domino's Australia.