Cambridge delivery robot grateful for snow rescue

The little robot's wheels were "spinning like crazy" on the icy kerb

A delivery robot that got stuck in the snow has thanked the man who put it back on the right track.

Graham Smith came across the robot struggling to mount an icy kerb in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, on Monday.

Posting a photo on Facebook, he said he was concerned about the plight of the "poor little mite", which said "thank you" after he helped it up the kerb.

Starship Technologies, which run the robots, said they were designed to run at temperatures as low as -20C (-4F).

They were introduced in Cambridge last month.

Heavy snow fell across the city on Sunday night and by Monday it was blanketed in white.

A photo taken late on Sunday shows several of them happily trundling along a snowy pavement in Cambridge.

However, the Cherry Hinton bot hit a bit of bother on its journey the following day.

A group of robots happily traversed the snowy conditions in Cambridge on Sunday night

Mr Smith, who was out walking in Chequers Close, spotted it having trouble and took a photograph.

On his Facebook post he wrote: "Saw this poor little mite trying to negotiate a high, slippery kerb in Chequers Close earlier today, wheels spinning like crazy, we gave it a push onto the path, it very politely thanked us and carried on its way.

"Should it have been let out on its own in these weather conditions? It didn't even have a scarf."

He said the robot "looked a little lost" as it came across the road and then became stuck on the snow and ice trying to mount the kerb.

"I lifted its back end up to help it on, and it shunted backwards and forwards a bit, and then said 'thank you very much' before heading away."

A Starship Technologies spokesman said: "Our little helpers are busy delivering in the run up to Christmas, and a light dusting of snow won't stop them.

"They're designed to deliver in a range of different weather conditions, and although temperatures in the UK have fallen these past few days, the robot's batteries are designed to operate at -20C."