FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) -- Fayetteville was the testing site of a high-tech delivery system over the weekend.
Starship Technologies, based overseas, tested out their fleet of delivery robots on the University of Arkansas campus on Saturday (April 2). The company was testing the robots to see how students reacted to them before they were distributed commercially. They also allowed the students to control the robots.
According to the company's website, the robots can deliver packages within a three-mile radius between 5 and 30 minutes. They travel at the speed of pedestrian walking.
The robots come equipped with self-driving technology and can navigate the sidewalks with one inch precision after an area is mapped out. However, they are monitored by people, and can be manually driven at any point in their routes.
The company said that soon the robots will be able to navigate sidewalks and obstacles on their own. People will be able to track the robots -- and their deliveries -- on their smartphones.
A similar experiment was also recently performed on the streets of the District of Columbia. The company was keen to bring the experiment to Arkansas because of
"It is the future of delivery," said Helen Kaarlep, head of testing and operations for Starship Technologies. "Arkansas, with it's University of Arkansas, has the largest density of future supply chain managers, so we're keen on testing it here."