--- title: "Sad Delivery Robot Gets Lost In The Woods" description: "British history professor Matthew McCormack made a rather strange discovery during his morning bike ride: a delivery robot seemingly lost in the woods." date: "2022-05-16" modified: "2022-05-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/delivery-robot-lost-woods" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "delivery robots" - "the digest" --- # Sad Delivery Robot Gets Lost In The Woods ![British history professor Matthew McCormack made a rather strange discovery during his morning bike ride: a delivery robot seemingly lost in the woods.]() *\Image: Matthew McCormack\* ## Into the Woods If a delivery robot gets lost in the woods and nobody's there to find it, does it, uh, okay, we kinda lost the metaphor on that one. Regardless, the internet was delighted over the weekend when British history professor Matthew McCormack made a hilarious discovery during his morning bike ride: a six-wheeled delivery robot, driving by its lonesome self along a forested path, in a rather adorable reminder of the helplessness of increasingly ubiquitous autonomous machines. It's unclear what company it belonged to. But given the location, Northampton in the UK, the robot was [likely built by Starship Technologies](), a well-established player in the field that has expanded its footprint considerably in the area. https://twitter.com/historymatt/status/1525776275939418113 ## Lost Boys This poor little bot is far from the first to run into trouble. Some of been [getting stuck on curbs](), while another met a [fiery demise underneath freight trains](). In another domain, robot vacuums have also run astray. One infamous vacuum [narrowly escaped a Travelodge hotel]() in Cambridge, UK, back in January. Another one got so lost that its owner [distributed "missing" posters](). There's a good chance that lost delivery robots will become a common sight in the near future. The use of the tech [skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic](), providing cities, particularly in China, with ways to make deliveries without spreading germs. Starship [raised $100 million]() in March alone, signaling a major appetite among investors for the microwave-sized robots. So it may be time to learn how to get along with the chaotic wheelie bins — or at least figure out how to point them in the right direction if they do end up getting lost in the woods. **More on delivery robots:** *[Alibaba Says Delivery Robots Are Great Because They Don’t Smoke on the Job]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()