This is how our Milton Keynes delivery robots are now able to SING to us

An idea to cheer people up during lockdown has proved a musical hit for Starship robots in MK.

Two of the company’s tech experts were heartened to hear stories of how deliveries from the little machines helped brightened the day for so many lonely people during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Starship’s senior backend developer, Misha Stepanov started bouncing around ideas with product design technologist Anti Veeranna about how they could bring even more smiles to peoples’ faces.

It started with birthdays. Would it be possible to get a Starship robot to sing Happy Birthday? they wondered.

The idea was catchy and inspiring, said Misha. “We knew that if we could pull this off and make it happen, then any other scenario would not be difficult either. Therefore, we focused on its implementation"

The company had already found a way to make the robots ‘dance’, he said. ““For that, we were supported by a choreographer who helped us to put several robots to move around in sync. They danced beautifully and it was fun to watch.

And people had been enchanted, ever since the robots were launched, to hear them ‘speak’ – though their vocabulary was limited to ‘good afternoon’, or ‘bon appetit’ and an occasional thank you when a member of the public helps them up a difficult kerb.

“If something like that can brighten up someone’s day a bit, then it is worth the effort and time to think about how to boost it more,” said a Starship spokesman.

The first idea was to redevelop Starship’s current mobile application so that, together with ordering their groceries or takeaway food, people could also choose a song as a an add-on.

However, that system would require a huge number of development hours, long releases, another team’s input and coordination between different departments,.

Anti then suggested that a song could be added into the basket as a regular product, meaning no additional programming was needed. It sounded perfect.

Seven months ago, the first singing robot delivery was launched. The launch took place, of course, in Milton Keynes, the first UK city to use the Starship robots.

Since then the robots have played more than 108,000 songs to customers. In the words of Starship, this is “an awesome outcome”.

“People order songs, add to their basket along with milk and bread, like a regular grocery item. After that, the items are collected and loaded into a Starship robot. When the robot arrives at the customer and the customer opens the lid, the robot starts playing the selected song. What a lovely and entertaining surprise!” said the spokesman.

The first three songs that Starship robots were able to play, were Happy Birthday, Time Of My Life (popular for anniversaries) and Daft Punk Surprise.

Today customers can choose between three to five songs, which change frequently depending on time and location

And, after being received so warmly in MK, the singing robots have now been rolled out globally..

“Seeing this finally happen was amazing and a delight to witness for both of us,” said Misha.

He said the development of the song feature was relatively easy. Starship robots already knew how to play mp3 files, since they were able to ‘speak so from a technical point of view, it was not difficult to get them to burst into song,

The only snag was that the song had to be removed after the order was placed to ensure it was not passed on to the restaurant as an item to be cooked.

“The song cannot be cooked,” said the Starship spokesman solemnly.

Misha and Anti’s idea was welcomed from the start by the marketing department, who were “delighted and fascinated”. The department set about buying the copyright for the songs and introducing the concept to the public.

“Everything else went according to plan: PR, marketing messaging, layout for the first clients, deploying the first city (Milton Keynes), then the first country (England), and then came the global rollout,” said the spokesman,

“To make a robot sing, you just need one cool idea, two colleagues to brainstorm at lunch, a couple of days for development … and then the whole company to support it.

“The result was warmly welcomed by everyone — the team, the company, and most importantly — our Starship customers. And 100 000+ orders only confirms that.”

Starship robots launched in Milton Keynes in 2018 and have boomed in popularity ever since, delivering to more and more areas of the borough. They have a partnership with the Co-op and Starbucks, plus a host of other independent takeaway stores.

They are now an established part of the community, with many people greeting them as they trundle past.

During lockdown the service proved particularly valuable for people needing to isolate.

Head of Starship’s UK Operations, Andrew Curtis said: "The robots were a God-send in lockdown for many vulnerable people and people that just didn't quite feel comfortable going out yet.

"We saw a growth of about four times the amount of orders, people really loved the fact that the robots are pretty much contactless and deliver straight to your door quickly.

"When the large retailers couldn't provide deliveries of weekly shops, we were helping to keep people going.

"The robots actually have fit in so well with the local community, and the town has really embraced us.”