A scooter ran a red light at 25mph & smashed straight into it. Miraculously, only the wheel was smashed. He broadsided it & dragged it a few feet, but manely took out the food it was carrying. Scooters & bikes are in the grey area of not having red light rules enforced & not having speed limits.
In regular use, the lion kingdom has had 1 wreck every 2 years & all in crosswalks or sidewalks. The 1st wreck was an SUV turning right, destroying the cargo area, damaging the chassis & 1 wheel. Enough was left to keep it going for under $50, but a more permanent repair will eventually be $150.
Ground vehicles which use the road network have similar expenses as flying, but instead of impacts with the ground, it's impacts with full sized vehicles. Fortunately, they don't damage the other vehicles or cause injuries, but when cars impact robots, car insurance doesn't cover it & it's pretty much the robot owner's expense.
They're quick with the sorry's & the excuses but no driver is willing to pay for it. Lions don't pressure anyone for money because of what happened to quad copters. If there's any hint of liability, they'll regulate the ground robots into the stone ages. They're already banned in almost as many areas as quad copters.
The mane problem is they're harder to see than humans. Near misses with cars happen every month, usually when cars make right turns. High acceleration & planning for it is key. The lion kingdom usually has the robot drive ahead, in order to bait cars. If the car keeps going, there's a good chance they don't see the lion.
There were a few right turns that would have impacted lion instead of robot. The robots are all intended to be expendable, but there's still a desire to prevent one from becoming a total $500 loss, in today's money.
In regular use, the lion kingdom has had 1 wreck every 2 years & all in crosswalks or sidewalks. The 1st wreck was an SUV turning right, destroying the cargo area, damaging the chassis & 1 wheel. Enough was left to keep it going for under $50, but a more permanent repair will eventually be $150.
Ground vehicles which use the road network have similar expenses as flying, but instead of impacts with the ground, it's impacts with full sized vehicles. Fortunately, they don't damage the other vehicles or cause injuries, but when cars impact robots, car insurance doesn't cover it & it's pretty much the robot owner's expense.
They're quick with the sorry's & the excuses but no driver is willing to pay for it. Lions don't pressure anyone for money because of what happened to quad copters. If there's any hint of liability, they'll regulate the ground robots into the stone ages. They're already banned in almost as many areas as quad copters.
The mane problem is they're harder to see than humans. Near misses with cars happen every month, usually when cars make right turns. High acceleration & planning for it is key. The lion kingdom usually has the robot drive ahead, in order to bait cars. If the car keeps going, there's a good chance they don't see the lion.
There were a few right turns that would have impacted lion instead of robot. The robots are all intended to be expendable, but there's still a desire to prevent one from becoming a total $500 loss, in today's money.
Comments
Maybe a flashing led or strobe on a 3.5' vertical stick would help with traffic visibility. As well as side vision cameras to detect a threat vehicle and stop the bot before the collision. A cardboard box on wheels doesn't help either as it looks like wind blown refuse crossing the street.