Starship Technologies powers autonomous uni campus food delivery service
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and its food services provider, Sodexo, have partnered with Starship Technologies to roll-out a delivery service via autonomous robots.
Starship’s fleet of 20 robots will deliver from three campus eateries: Qdoba, 1891 Bistro and the new Paavo’s Pizza with the goal to add extra retail locations by next spring.
A&T’s students, faculty and staff can now use its app to order food and drinks to be delivered on campus, within minutes.
"As a STEM university, A&T and Sodexo’s partnership with Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robots falls right in line with what we are about," says Angela Peterson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Enterprises.
"We are incredibly excited to provide this service to our students to help minimise wait times and do it using a real world application of technology similar to what some of our students are studying."
The service will be free of delivery fees, which will be covered for students by the university for two years and works in conjunction with student meal plans.
“We’re really looking forward to serving the students, faculty and staff at A&T,” says Ryan Tuohy, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Sales at Starship Technologies.
“We look for university partners that embrace innovation and A&T has that in spades.”
“Because of the focus on STEM, we think the campus community will not only appreciate seeing this innovation firsthand, but they’ll also love the convenience that the service provides. We’re also looking forward hiring student workers who will get real world experience in AI.”
To get started, users open the Starship app, choose from a range of 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. Each robot can carry up to 20 pounds.
