Colorado State University introduces food-delivering robots

Colorado State University has welcomed new six-wheeled residents to its campus.

As of January 27, CSU became the first university in Colorado to introduce food-delivering autonomous robots. There are 13 robots now rolling around the Fort Collins campus to deliver food and drink from 10 campus dining centers and restaurants to its inhabitants.

So, how does it all work?

Campus goers order food as usual using the GrubHub app, and even though the deliveries are automated, there is still an added charge associated with the order. The on-campus dining services employees then answer to the Starship Technologies contraptions when they hear a ‘ding,’ which signals that they’ve received an order for the robot. The robots wait outside of the dining services buildings, lingering until the order has been put inside.

To protect against clumsiness, the bots are equipped with cameras and sensors to help them successfully traverse the area. As noted by CBS Colorado, according to Ian Abo, a business major senior at the school, “They’re constantly learning and finding better ways to navigate the campus.” Killing two birds with one stone, CSU involves the students in the operation of the robots.

January isn’t the first time students and staff may have seen the robots – they were initially introduced in the summer of 2024 so they could learn the lay of the land but weren’t available for food deliveries until late January.

Even with all of the preparations and precautions in place, the machines aren’t fail-safe.

Joshua Maxwell, CSU’s director of university housing, noted “when a robot hit a curb wrong, tipped over on its side with an alarm sounding, a student went out of their way to get the robot back into driving position to send it on its way.”

Each trip made by a robot adds to its data collection, making each subsequent trip more efficient.

According to CBS News Colorado, a sticking point with the wheeled deliveries is vehicle traffic. The bots often hesitate to enter busy intersections, sometimes causing delays of up to 10 minutes.

Both the demand for deliveries and on-campus dining services sales have increased since the introduction of the bots, according to CSU staff.

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