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双语•科技：亚马逊快递机器人即将上市

With self-driving vehicle technology rapidly advancing, many companies are turning to autonomous robots for the final leg — the so-called last mile—of the delivery process, from the store or local distribution center to the customer. The latest to join the trend is e-commerce giant Amazon. Following a successful eight-month test run in Snohomish County, Washington, the company’s Scout robots have been making the rounds of Irvine, California, since August 6, 2019.

随着无人驾驶汽车技术的迅速发展，许多公司致力于使用自动化机器人完成配送过程（从仓库或当地的配送中心到顾客手中）的最后一步——所谓的“最后一英里”。最新加入这一潮流的是电商巨头亚马逊。在完成华盛顿州斯诺霍米什县为期8个月的成功测试后，自2019年8月6日起，该公司的Scout机器人已在加利福尼亚州尔湾多次执行任务。

The six-wheeled Scout, which sports Amazon’s familiar Prime logo, is about the size of a large cooler with the capacity to carry small or medium-sized packages. The battery-powered vehicle, which moves at a regular walking pace, has been programmed to avoid pedestrians, animals, and unexpected obstacles, such as garbage cans. Its powerful sensors can also detect the movement of a car backing out of a driveway.

Scout是一款六轮机器人，上面印有亚马逊熟为人知的Prime标志。它与大型冰箱大小相当，能够装载中小型包裹。这台由电池驱动的装置以人步行的速度移动，具有可以躲避行人、动物以及意想不到的障碍物（如垃圾箱）的能力。其功能强大的传感器还能检测车辆倒车时的情况。

To accelerate Scout’s development and bring it nationwide sooner, the company has created several detailed virtual maps of American suburbs and conducted simulated deliveries to homes there. “We can run thousands of deliveries in simulation overnight versus taking a bot outside in the real world,” Scout VP Sean Scott told The Verge. “The bot doesn’t actually know it’s in a simulation. It thinks it’s in the real world, which is pretty cool.”

为了加速 Scout 的开发进程，以使其尽快在全国得到推广，公司制作了部分美国郊区的详细虚拟地图，并实施了模拟送货。Scout副总裁Sean Scott在接受外媒The Verge采访时说：“我们可以在一夜之间模拟数千次送货交付，而不需要在现实环境中使用机器人。然而，机器人实际上并不知道它正处于模拟状态中，它认为这就是现实世界。这是相当酷的。”

Though Amazon has not revealed how Scout ensures the delivery is picked up by the right person, it most likely requires the customer to apply a unique code, texted to them prior to the delivery, to unlock the cargo bay. Also unclear is the number of deliveries Scout can complete before its battery needs to be recharged. Though the initial tests are being conducted with a human in tow, the robot will be autonomous in the future. Its location, however, will be tracked at all times — if someone attempts to steal Scout, Amazon employees will be instantly alerted.

虽然亚马逊没有透露 Scout 如何确保货物被正确的人取走，但它很可能在送货前给客户发一个独特的代码，要求客户应用该代码来解锁货舱。同样不清楚的是Scout的电池需要再次充电前，它能完成多少次送货。虽然前期的测试有人类员工陪同，但未来该机器人将独立完成配送。然而，它的位置将被全程追踪。如果有人尝试偷盗Scout，亚马逊员工会被立即提醒。

While Amazon is focusing on home deliveries, San Francisco-based Starship Technologies has its eyes set on college students. On August 20, 2019, the company announced plans to deploythousands of robots to deliver food and other items to students at college campuses across the country. Unlike Scout, Starship’s eponymous bots are seasoned workers with extensive street experience. They have been tested in over 100 cities in 20 different countries, traversed 350,000 miles, crossed 4 million streets, and successfully completed over 100,000 deliveries.

当亚马逊专注于家庭送货时，总部设在旧金山的Starship科技公司，把目光投向了在校大学生。2019年8月20日，该公司宣布计划部署数以千计的机器人在全国的大学校园内配送食物和其他物品。与 Scout 不同，该公司的同名机器人相当老练，有着丰富的街头经验。它们已经在20个国家的100多个城市进行了测试，跨越了35万英里，穿过了400万条街道，成功完成了10万次配送。

Meanwhile, food and grocery delivery company Postmates' bug-eyed robots are currently making their rounds along the busy San Francisco streets. Also in test-mode, the robots can carry up to 50 lbs and travel 30 miles on a single battery charge.

与此同时，食品杂货配送公司 Postmates 的大眼机器人目前正穿梭于繁忙的旧金山街头。该机器人也处于测试阶段，可最多携带50磅重量的物品，一次充电可以行驶30英里。

Though the eco-friendly robots will help free our streets of bicycles, motorized scooters, and large delivery trucks that typically ferry packages, they have some limitations. They are unable to climb stairs or open gates, which means that they can only reach consumers who live on the ground level. Additionally, the robots are unable to leave packages at the front door if the customers are not home. Whether these issues get resolved remains to be seen. For now, it appears that humans will still be needed to fulfill the ever-growing demand for home and office deliveries.

尽管这类环保型机器人将有助于我们的街道摆脱自行车、电动踏板车和大型运货卡车的困扰，但它们也有一些局限性。它们无法爬楼梯或开门，这意味着它们只能接触到住在地面上的消费者。此外，如果客户不在家，这些机器人无法把包裹放到他们门前。这些问题能否解决还需拭目以待。目前，为了满足日益增长的家庭和办公室快递需求，人类快递员似乎仍然是必需的。

单词积累：

1. autonomous adj. acting independently or having the freedom to do so 独立自主的

2. distribution n. the act of giving or delivering sth to a number of people 分发，分送

3. trend n. a general direction in which a situation is changing or developing 动向，趋势

4. pedestrian n. a person walking in the street and not traveling in a vehicle 行人，步行者

5. accelerate v. to happen or to make sth happen faster or earlier than expected （使）加快

6. virtual adj. made to appear to exist by the use of computer software 虚拟的

7. simulated adj. not real, but made to look, feel, etc. like the real thing 模拟的，仿造的

8. extensive adj. covering a large area, great in amount 大量的

9. limitation n. a limit on what sb/sth can do or how good they or it can be 局限，限度

本文英文来自dogonews，已选入《快捷英语 活页英语时文阅读理解 高二年级19》，参考译文由快捷英语整理。转载需注明出处。