A delivery robot got stuck on a railroad track in Miami and was smashed to bits by a passing train.
Shock onlookers watched as a Brightline commuter train down plowed into the robo-courier, owned by California-based Coco Robotics, according to People Magazine which noted the machine wasn’t making a delivery when it malfunctioned.
Video of the collision — filmed by Miami native Guillermo Dapelo — showed the machine motionless on the tracks for about 15 minutes as the train was approaching at full speed.
The delivery robot had no package at the time of its destruction. Guillermo Dapelo via Storyful“I was walking my dogs around 8:00 p.m. and I saw the food car standing on the train tracks,” Dapelo told Storyful. An Uber Eats delivery person called Coco Robotics “to let them know where it was standing and within a matter of minutes the train approached and is captured on the video,” he noted.
Coco Robotics partners with delivery services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash.
The video — in which Dapelo can be heard saying, “Oh, it’s gonna crash it” — quickly went viral.
No humans were hurt in the incident, but the little robot never stood a chance.
A train traveling at 55 miles per hour takes almost a mile to stop, according to Operation Lifesaver’s safety rules, and the average locomotive weighs 200 tons.
Coco Robotics told People their machine “experienced a rare hardware failure.”
No one was hurt — except the robot. Guillermo Dapelo via Storyful“We’re grateful it was a Coco robot and not a vehicle,” spokesman Carl Hansen told the outlet.
The average delivery robot is about the size of a suitcase and moves along at a leisurely five miles per hour.
Each one can carry up to 55 pounds of food or drinks.
Their secure cargo compartments open only when the customer unlocks them through whichever app they are using.
They use AI, cameras, and sensors to avoid obstacles while cruising along sidewalks. Although mostly autonomous, human operators can take control for tricky tasks like crossing streets — or railroad tracks.
