Bell, one of Canada’s largest communications companies, has announced a collaboration with Tiny Mile to provide 5G connectivity for the AI start-up’s growing fleet of food delivery robots in downtown Toronto.
Collectively named ‘Geoffrey’, Tiny Mile’s remotely operated pink robots rely on built-in cameras and GPS to navigate the streets of Toronto. Connecting Geoffrey to Bell’s 5G network enables high-definition video telematics data capabilities, improving real-time decisions and enhancing safety and response times.
“Bell is thrilled to work with Tiny Mile to leverage the incredible speed and response time of Bell 5G and enable this innovative and timely food delivery option for their customers with mobile edge computing (MEC),” said Nauby Jacob, senior vice president, products and services, at Bell Mobility.
In the first phase of Tiny Mile autonomous delivery on Bell 5G, remote tele-operators will be able to pilot the robots with 5G’s faster sensor and video feed data response time. Tiny Mile will later implement Bell 5G and MEC service, moving computational power to the edge, providing ultra-low latency response and automating services like collision avoidance.
Streaming data from multiple cameras and sensors on each robot will transmit to the edge with near instantaneous processing to guide the robot around pedestrians, moving objects or obstructions like potholes or poles.
“The Bell 5G network will enable our remote controlled robots to transmit large amounts of data with incredibly fast speeds – an important milestone in advancing the development of our autonomous delivery model – which is a perfect fit for us,” said Ignacio Tartavull, CEO of Tiny Mile. “This will help to optimise our business delivery model with an improved solution to help our team do what they do best – deliver fresh restaurant meals to our customers.”
