As classes resume at college campuses all around the US, there may be some new and rather short members of the student body roaming around. Starship Technologies has expanded its existing roster of autonomous delivery robots to 50 schools, offering its Level 4 on-demand meal service to over 1.1 million students in the US alone.
Starship Technologies was founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis based on the idea that autonomy can help many of the challenges present in last-mile deliveries. To date, the company’s L4 autonomous delivery robots have completed over five million trips, transporting people’s meals, packages, and groceries in thirty different locations around the globe.
In the US, Starship has been implementing autonomous robots on college campuses since 2019 and reports that student bodies have fallen in love with the tiny rovers. Campuses have established entire social media pages dedicated to the robots, complete with plenty of selfies.
Today, Starship Technologies announced it is expanding its fleet of autonomous delivery bots to additional schools, complete with some interesting new features. Did we mention they can wheelie?
Starship robots available to deliver to millions of students
Per an update from Starship today, it is now offering its robotic delivery service to a total of 50 college campuses across the US, including its most recent additions – Wichita State University, Boise State University, and The University of New Orleans.
Starship relayed that its autonomous delivery fleet now has 2,000 robots operating in half of the US states and around the globe, providing access to its service to 1.1 million students. Those pupils should have some fire new content to post to their social media pages as Starship is rolling out new customizable features to the delivery robots.
For instance, a host of robot “characters” with unique voices will begin navigating campuses, including Sunshine “for a dose of positivity,” Harry – a “British accent for a proper butler experience” – and Asher, described as “cool and casual.”
If students would rather avoid a conversation with the autonomous bot delivering them snacks, they can request the robot play a song from a pre-selected list. The character or song requests can be made in the Starship food delivery app when placing an order. Per Chris Neider, VP of business development at Starship Technologies:
Our robots have proved to be immensely popular, especially among college students who often adopt them as another campus mascot. We like to keep innovating and the new schools and new robot characters are great additions for the new school year.
Looking ahead, Starship Technologies will continue to launch its delivery services this year, and in most instances, the service will be included in student meal plans. You can check out the autonomous robot in action in the company’s recent video below:
Author: Scooter Doll
Source: Electrek
