On May 28th 2022, Rakuten, Panasonic HD, and Seiyu Group jointly started an on-demand delivery service using unmanned ground delivery (UGV) vehicles in Tsukuba city. This service is available every Saturday for the approximately 1000 households in the nearby area of Tsukuba station to deliver various items from “Seiyu Tsukuba Takezono Store” as fast as within 30 mins from the time of order.

There are over 2,000 items including fresh produce, refrigerated/frozen items, ready-made foods, packaged drinks and other various everyday items from Seiyu Tsukuba Takezono store available for delivery with a service fee of 110 yen. The orders can be placed from a corresponding smartphone app, and the delivery updates are provided with automated phone calls and SNS messages.

The UGV in featured is the auto-delivery robot “X-Area Robo” developed by Panasonic HD, and is monitored and controlled by the remote controlling system “X-Area Remote” at Panasonic Laboratory Tokyo located approximately 60km away from Tsukuba city.

Th innovative service in Tsukaba will be Japan’s first on-demand delivery service provided by an UGV driving on the public roads.