Starship Technologies has rolled out its robot food delivery service at SMU, a Dallas-based private university.
Starship’s fleet of 16 autonomous, on-demand robots will deliver from 10 campus eateries.
The University’s students, faculty and staff can now use the Starship Food Delivery app (iOS and Android) to order food and drinks from Cinco Taco, Einstein Bros Bagels, Lawyers Inn, Mac’s Place, Panera Bread, Rollin’ & Bowlin’ Acai Bowls, Starbucks, Sushic, and The Market to be delivered anywhere on campus, within minutes.
Austin Hickle, SMU student body president, says: “Ease of access to food is very important for college students on our campus. We are excited to have this service at SMU going forward because students now have the ability to order and receive meals within minutes.”
Starship is already providing services to campuses across the country, including Arizona State University, Purdue University, George Mason University, Northern Arizona University and Purdue University.
Since launch, all campuses have increased the number of robots, dining options and hours of operation to meet the high demand for the service.
To get started, users open the Starship Deliveries app, choose from a range of their favorite food or drink items, then drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent.
They can then watch as the robot makes its journey to them, via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can then meet and unlock it through the app.
Delivery usually takes just a few minutes, depending on the menu items ordered and the distance the robot must travel. Each robot can carry up to 20 pounds at a time – the equivalent of about three shopping bags of goods.
Ryan Tuohy, SVP of business development and sales at Starship Technologies, says: “We’re excited to announce the launch of our service at SMU. We’re happy to expand our services in the Dallas area, which has warmly embraced our robots.”
Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots have made more than 2.5 million autonomous deliveries, traveled millions of miles and make more than 100,000 road crossings every day.
The robots use a combination of sophisticated machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensors to travel on sidewalks and navigate around obstacles. The computer vision-based navigation helps the robots to map their environment to the nearest inch.
The robots can cross streets, climb curbs, travel at night and operate in both rain and snow. A team of humans can also monitor their progress remotely and can take control at a moment’s notice.
Carlie Lara, an SMU student, says: “These robots are so cool! As a very involved student, it will make eating on campus so much easier when I’m in a crunch for time.”
