Researchers develop robot porter

(ANSA) - Rome, June 23 - Italian researchers have developed a robot porter capable of monitoring people coming in and out of flat blocks and delivering mail, and expect to be able to produce it on an industrial scale within two years.
    Many Italian offices and flat blocks have small rooms for porters to sit in and monitor entrance halls, although it has become less common to see people employed in this role in recent years.
    The hi-tech porter wears a yellow tie and has a tray for delivering post and packages to residents. Developed in Italy, it was presented at a technology conference in Pisa organised by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
    "We have given ourselves a goal of two years for a model that can be produced on an industrial scale," said researcher Filippo Cavallo, co-founder of Co-Robotics, a spin-off of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
    The same group has developed a prototype for a domestic worker robot with many similar aspects to its porter colleague.