Starting Jan. 22, 2019, anyone on the campus of George Mason University in Virginia will be able to order from several campus eateries:
Blaze Pizza, Second Stop, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks are available through the Starship Deliveries app—which can be downloaded from their website—for delivery by one of 22 robots on campus. Service is available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Students can pay by credit card or various campus currencies.
The robots move at about 4 mph, and customers are expected to get their food within 30 minutes. The robots will not be able to enter buildings, so customers must meet the robots at the door. People must not forget to bring their phone—the locked robots can only be unlocked through the app.
The small robots can hold up to three pizzas, along with a few salads and drinks. They are temperature controlled, so your pizza will stay hot while your salads will stay cold.
The fleet of robots even has their own Twitter and Instagram accounts—their handle is @StarshipGMU—so students, faculty and staff can keep up with the latest updates about new restaurants, changes of hours and more.
It can be a challenge to navigate it all, but these robots are smart. If faced with a navigation challenge, a robot will alert Starship Technologies in Washington, D.C., where an employee can remotely navigate the robots. Once one of the robots learns a new path, it will alert the rest of the fleet.
The robots look both ways before crossing a street and can detect people walking around them. They are not likely to run into a person standing still, but if something does happen, incidents can be reported to campus police.
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