Rakuten robots deliver Seiyu, Starbucks products day and night as service expanded

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:36 JST, November 22, 2022

Rakuten Group, Inc. has launched a full-scale robot delivery service in the area around Tsukuba Station in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, following a demonstration experiment.

Previously, the service was provided only on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the day, but will now be a daily service and will also be available at night and when it rains.

Since May, Rakuten has been offering a service in which automated delivery robots deliver products from its partner supermarket Seiyu Co. to approximately 1,000 households in condominiums and houses near Tsukuba Station. The company determined that there was sufficient demand for the service after many users requested an expansion of the days of the week and the areas covered.

The delivery destinations will include nearby offices as well as parks and plazas that users frequent. In conjunction with the full-scale rollout of the service, Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd.’s products will also be handled.