The first two test robots from Marble, a San Francisco-based robotics company, began mapping out the city streets and sidewalks of Arlington, Texas on Friday, August 17, according to NBC DFW.

Marble is the first company to deploy this type of technology in Arlington after the City Council gave approval for private companies to deploy robotic delivery devices to test their usage in the city back in June.

“This is our first step in interacting with the city of Arlington and we are very excited to be here,” says Marble representative Jackie Erickson.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the two robots will travel across the city to get a layout of the land. The robots will be accompanied by human “ambassadors” during this process.

“They are watching the mapping process and they are ensuring that [the robots] are safe and they are efficient and they are interacting well with pedestrians and politely with pedestrians,” Erickson explains.

Once the mapping process is complete, a pilot delivery program is expected to start. A human will accompany the robots during the first few months of the program to monitor their behavior, but the plan is for the robots to eventually operate with full autonomy, with a human watching movement from a remote computer.

“It would look like, grocery delivery, package delivery throughout the day – working with our retailers,” Erickson says. “You’ll be seeing these robots on the sidewalks navigating alongside pedestrians.”

Capable of holding up to four bags of groceries, six shoe boxes and 10 hot meals, the robots will deliver to locations up to about two miles away. Customers will retrieve their items by entering a special code into the robot.

No specific routes have been chosen yet for the robots to operate on, but data gathered during the mapping process will help decide where the robots go.

“We’ve got a lot of great residents, apartments and neighborhood in North Arlington and that is probably where they will be focused on,” says Arlington Strategic Planning Manager Lyndsay Mitchell.

Mitchell believes that this technology could prove to be extremely beneficial for citizens.

“Particularly for people who have transportation challenges or mobility challenges,” Mitchell says. “They will be able to get groceries and other items delivered to them so they won’t have to make those short trips that may be inconvenient for them at any time.”