Starship Technologies launches autonomous deliveries on campus

Starship Technologies is rolling out commercial autonomous delivery services for corporate and academic campuses across the U.S. and Europe, following continued growth in robotic food, grocery and parcel delivery in residential neighbourhoods.

The company claims it is the first large-scale deployment of autonomous delivery services, supporting campuses by implementing robots to assist in work and school environments.

The robots offer on-demand delivery anywhere on participating campuses via an app, offering employees food delivery when and where they want, eliminating unwanted errands or transporting items to and from other locations on campus.

“We’ve already partnered with Compass Group on the Intuit Mountain View campus in the U.S. to provide accessible, convenient and sustainable robotic delivery,” said CEO, Ahti Heinla, Starship Technologies.

“After a successful start to the year and great reception to our robots, we are planning to dramatically expand our services and distribute thousands of robots across campuses around the world by 2019.”

The campus launch represents a major milestone in the growth of Starship Technologies, expanding on commercial delivery pilot programs in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Estonia.

Its robots have now covered over 100,000 miles around the world in 20 countries and over 100 cities, encountering over 15 million people along the way.

On Intuit’s Mountain View campus, workers can order food and drink via the Starship app for delivery throughout the day across all 4.3 acres of the campus. On average, a robot takes 17 minutes to deliver.

The robots can deliver all manner of items from food and office stationery to auto-parts in large campus environments. To date, the most common delivery item at Intuit has been breakfast sandwiches.