Starship Technologies wants its autonomous delivery robots to be as maintenance-free as possible, so the company asked Goodyear to develop a new longer-lasting tire.
Starship robots are used for last-mile package and food deliveries, and each one relies on six wheels. They are constantly on the go and that inevitably wears the tires out quickly. As Siim Viilup, mechanical engineering manager at Starship Technologies explains:
“Our delivery robots make thousands of deliveries every day in all types of weather conditions and terrain. To make sure we can keep up with the growing demand for our services, we need tires that are reliable and keep our robots on the move around the clock and around the globe.”
What Goodyear produced in response is a specially-engineered airless tire which is currently being tested at Bowling Green State University. The existing tires are air-filled and solid, but the new ones Goodyear developed are full of holes and you can see right through them as the video above reveals.
So far, testing has “shown positive results with respect to treadwear, braking and vibration dampening,” which suggests that it won’t be long before Starship starts switching its robots over to the new tires. Goodyear also points out that by developing airless tires it’s taking another step towards the company’s goal of producing both a 100% sustainable-material tire, and a maintenance-free tire by 2030.
