Sometime next year, an autonomous robot could deliver food from an airport restaurant to your gate.

The idea for the Ottobot delivery robot came from a desire to help restaurants meet the increased demand for takeout orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ottobot can find its way in enclosed spaces where GPS cannot penetrate.

Founded 2020

Headquarters Santa Monica, California.

Founders Ritukar Vijay, Pradyot Korupolu, Ashish Gupta and Hardik Sharma


Ottobot is the brainchild of Ritukar Vijay, Ashish Gupta, Hardik Sharma and Pradyot Korupolu. The four founded Ottonomy in 2020 in Santa Monica, California. Now the startup has 40 employees in the US and India.

Ottonomy, which has raised over $4.5 million in funding, won the Business Intelligence Group’s Sustainability Product of the Year award last year.

Today, Ottobot is being tested not only by restaurants, but also by grocery stores, postal services and airports.

Vijay and his colleagues say that they have focused on three qualities: complete autonomy, ease of maneuvering and accessibility.

“The robot does not replace employees; it helps them in fulfilling their duties,” says Vijay. “It’s great to see how the employees at our pilot locations are happy with the robot helping them complete their tasks. It’s also really nice to see people getting a delivery order from Ottobot.”

Emphasis on autonomous technologies

For 15 years, Vijay, a senior member of the IEEE, has worked on autonomous robots and vehicles for companies such as HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and THRSL. In 2019, he joined Aptiv, an automotive technology provider headquartered in Dublin. There he worked on the BMW Urban Mobility Project, which develops autonomous transport systems and traffic management systems.

During Vijay’s time there, he noticed that Aptiv and its competitors were focusing more on developing electric vehicles rather than autonomous vehicles. He believed it would take a long time for autonomous cars to become mainstream, so he started looking for niche applications. He stumbled across restaurants and other businesses that were struggling to keep up with supplies.

According to Vijay, Ottobot reduces shipping costs by up to 70 percent and can cut carbon emissions from short distance shipping by almost 40 percent.

OttonomyUsing wheelchair technology, Ottobot can maneuver over curbs and other obstacles. a robot on a wheel walks on a city sidewalk

Ottobot as an airport assistant

Within the first few months of launching the startup, Vijay and the Ottonomi team began working with the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport. The agency wanted to enable passengers to deliver food from airport restaurants and shops to their gates, but was unable to find an autonomous robot that could navigate the crowded facility without access to GPS, Vijay says.

Instead of GPS, the robot used 3D lidars, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors. Lidars provide geometric information about the environment. Cameras collect semantic and depth data, while short-range ultrasonic sensors ensure Ottobot detects poles and other obstacles. The Ottonomy team wrote their own software that allows the robot to create highly informative maps – a three-dimensional digital twin of an object.

Vijay says there is a safety mechanism that allows an employee to “take control if the robot can’t figure out how to maneuver on its own, like through a crowd.” The safety mechanism also notifies the Ottonomy engineer if the robot’s battery runs low, says Vijay.

“Imagine passengers boarding a plane at the gate,” he says. “These areas are getting very crowded. During the development of the robot, one of our engineers joked that the only way to navigate in a crowd of this size was to move sideways. We laughed at it at the time, but three weeks later we began to develop a way for the robot to walk sideways.”

The team drew inspiration from powered wheelchairs. All four of the Ottobot’s wheels are driven and can turn at the same time, allowing it to move sideways, lean, and make zero-radius turns.

Wheelchair technology also allows Ottobot to maneuver outside the airport. The wheels can carry the robot over curbs and other obstacles.

“It’s encouraging to see how the employees at our pilot sites are so happy to have the robot help them complete their tasks.”

The height of Ottobot is 1.5 meters – this is enough for him to be seen. According to Vijay, he can adjust his position and height so that children, the elderly and people with disabilities can reach his cargo.

The robot’s compartments can hold products of different sizes and are large enough for it to make multiple deliveries in a single pass.

To place an order, customers scan a QR code at the facility’s entrance or gate to access Crave, a mobile food ordering and delivery app. After placing an order, customers indicate their location. At the airport, this will be the boarding gate number. Customers are then sent a QR code that matches their order.

A store or restaurant employee uploads ordered items to Ottobot. The location of the robot and the estimated time of arrival are constantly updated in the application.

Delivery times and prices vary by location, but on average, retail orders can be delivered in as little as 10 minutes, while restaurant orders typically take 20 to 25 minutes, Vijay says.

Once the robot reaches its final destination, it sends a notification to the customer’s phone. Ottobot then scans the QR code of the person who opens the branch.

The pilot programs are being carried out jointly with Rome Airport and the Norwegian postal and logistics group Posten.

Ottonomy says it expects Otobot to be used in airports, college campuses, restaurants and stores next year in Europe and North America.

Why IEEE membership is vital

According to him, membership in the IEEE gave Vijay the opportunity to network with other practicing engineers. He often attends conferences and participates in online events.

“When my team and I ran into difficulties developing the Ottonomy robot,” he says, “I was able to seek help from IEEE members with whom I am associated.”

Access to IEEE publications such as IEEE Robotics and Automation Journal, IEEE Letters on Robotics and Automationas well as IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering According to him, this was vital to his success. His team referenced the journals during the development of Ottobot and cited them in their technical papers and when filling out their patent applications.

“It’s easy for me to become an IEEE member,” says Vijay.

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