The Future Is Now: Delivery Robot Carts Hit the Streets for Erewhon Market

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This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s January 2022 Industry Newsletter

By Steve Hoffman

A robot-powered delivery service that launched in California in 2020 announced that it will begin grocery deliveries for Los Angeles-based natural products retail chain Erewhon Market with a bigger, more powerful version of its proprietary delivery robot, Winsight Grocery Business reported. The new robot model, COCO1, features longer battery life than the original model, allowing for a delivery radius of up to three miles, twice as far as the original model could travel. The bigger robot cart size allows for it to hold up to four grocery bags at the time, the robot’s maker, Coco, said. The cart’s cameras and sensors allow for remote pilots to plan efficient delivery routes and navigate walkways and streets, said the company, making COCO1 “the perfect vessel for metropolitan grocery delivery.” The robot was designed and built in partnership with Segway, Winsight Grocery Business reported. COCO1 delivery robots will be stationed at all seven Erewhon locations in the Los Angeles area, Coco said. The company also stated that its service boasts a 97% on-time delivery rate, and the robot maker recently completed a $36 million Series A funding round, which promises for more robots in the future.