Authors: Aiko Dinale, Rezia Molfino, Penghui Huang, Matteo Zoppi
In recent years, the research in the field of urban area delivery drew the attention of the scientific world. Many problems arise from the lack of a well-defined urban logistic, aimed at an efficient parcels distribution. Also technological issues arise; the current technology does not satisfy the needs of this specific context, in particular for what it concerns the vehicles and the transportation process. In this research we present the FURBOT vehicle result of the FURBOT (Freight Urban RoBOTic) project, funded within the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union, which aim is to develop a new vehicle to improve the urban freight transport. The vehicle represents an integration between a mobile robot, a van and a forklift. The new vehicle design is presented.