Robots are being put to good use at a university in America – delivering coffee and pizza to the students.
The machines, made by Starship Technologies, deliver food from a selection of shops to students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
According to the university, it is “the first college campus to use these new technologies”.
You’ve probably noticed the white, spaceship-looking robots making their way around the Fairfax Campus. Well, good news:…
Posted by George Mason University on Tuesday, January 22, 2019
The service, provided jointly by Starship and hospitality company Sodexo, went live on Tuesday and allows students to order from Blaze Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks and convenience store Second Stop.
The orders, placed through to Starship Deliveries app, will then be delivered by one of the Fairfax Campus’s 25 service robots – at a fee of 1.99 US dollars (£1.53) a time.
The robots are said to move at around 4mph and, upon arrival at their destination, can be unlocked by the customer with their phone via the app to get their food.
The robots appear to have been well received by students.
While doing orientations last week I saw these cute drone robots on campus and I was like "huh wonder if that's a school showing off or something" and actually they're DELIVERING PIZZA AND DONUTShttps://t.co/aZjz69C8Lo
— Jeremy Tuohy (@APieceOfWorkAmI) January 22, 2019
When I first came to campus today I thought I somehow ended up in an episode of "Doctor Who" https://t.co/HcWFaAvHYc
— Mark Helmsing (@markhelmsing) January 22, 2019
Virginia passed legislation to allow robots on pavements back in 2017, making it the first state to effectively legalise robot delivery.
In the UK, Starship robots have been used to trial deliveries by Co-op, Tesco and take-away company JustEat.