The robots are coming…to deliver your milk. Drinks brand Plenish has announced that its range of dairy-free milks will be delivered by autonomous bots in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in what is believed to be the world’s first robotic milk round.

​

In future, customers can simply tap their smartphone and have the milk arrive to their front door, delivered by robot a short while later.

 

The sleek fleet of self-driving robots move at pedestrian speed – around four miles per hour – and can navigate obstacles, including stopping at roadsides and crossing when it is clear.

 

They weigh less than 100 pounds (45kg) and their cargo can be opened only by the delivery app, which tracks their journey to and from the customer.

 

The revolutionary scheme will not only save customers a journey to the shops; it’ll also help to save the planet, as the delivery robots are powered by eco-friendly electric batteries, rather than fuel-guzzling engines.

 

“Nipping out for a pint of milk”, as the saying goes, can be particularly damaging to the environment as modern cars produce twice as much carbon emissions in the first five minutes of a journey. And given that more than half of all British car journeys are less than two miles, this soon adds up.

 

Moreover, Plenish is keen to highlight the “huge toll” that milk production takes on the planet. Environmental scientist Joseph Poore, from the University of Oxford, has shown that Plenish’s plant-based milks have up to 70 per cent fewer carbon emissions than dairy, making the robot milk round “a win-win for the environment”, says the company.

 

“We are a future-conscious brand which is always looking to innovate,” asserts Kara Rosen, founder of Plenish. “Through our new Enriched range, Plenish have created the m*lk of the future – so what better way to deliver it than through a robot milk round?

 

“Our brand ethos is all about healthy you, healthy planet – and this is the embodiment of that.”