Imagine walking down the street on a college campus with thousands of other fans after a college football game and crossing paths with a robot that’s just making its way through the throng, reacting by stopping and starting along with the people walking alongside it.
Not something seen every day, right? This scene is growing increasingly popular on campuses across the country, as many universities are now using delivery robot fleets to deliver food to students and faculty.
One manufacturer of the robots operates machines at campuses such as the University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, Purdue University and the University of Mississippi according to an article on Core77.com.
“Why colleges? Because sprawling campuses and people with packed schedules are the perfect environment for a delivery ‘bot,” the article reads. “Instead of having to trek across campus to the cafeteria, students can order food via an app and have it delivered to any location on campus.”
At UW-Madison, the use of the bots skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering hundreds of food orders a day to more than 65,000 students, faculty and staff members on campus.
“It has allowed students, faculty or staff that want to remain at their location, in their room, in their offices, whatever the case may be, to do that and still have hot food brought to them on a regular basis,” Peter Testory, the university’s director of dining and culinary services, told Channel3000.com in Madison.
Deliveries cost $1.99 on the UW-Madison campus and the bots are so popular that the manufacturer has three full-time employees on campus for maintenance and assistance should the machines get off track or stuck in snow (though the robots can be equipped with snow tires and operate on plowed sidewalks).
Dave Lubach is managing editor, Facility Market.
