Starship Technologies, Grubhub launch robot delivery service on ECU campus
Students, faculty and staff at East Carolina University can now have food delivered by robots from main campus dining locations through an ECU Dining Services partnership with Starship Technologies and Grubhub.
Starship’s fleet of autonomous, on-demand robots will deliver food and drinks from select campus eateries through the Grubhub app (iOS and Android) anywhere on main campus, including College Hill. The service can be used in conjunction with the student meal plan or through a Grubhub account.
“ECU Dining Services is excited to offer this innovative service to our campus community,” said Celia Daniels, director of dining services. “Campuses across the country have had to increase the size of their Starship fleets to meet demand, and these fun and convenient robots are sure to be popular in Pirate Nation as well.”
To get started, users open the Grubhub app, choose from a range of their favorite food or drink items from restaurants labeled “Offers Robot Delivery,” then select the location for their delivery to be sent. They can then watch via an interactive map as the robot makes its journey to their location. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert and can then meet and unlock it through the app. Each robot can carry up to 20 pounds — the equivalent of about three shopping bags of goods.
Starship Technologies’ zero-emission robots have made more than 4 million autonomous deliveries, traveled millions of miles and make more than 140,000 road crossings every day. The robots use a combination of sophisticated machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensors to travel on sidewalks and navigate around obstacles. The computer vision-based navigation helps the robots to map their environment to the nearest inch. The robots can cross streets, climb curbs, travel at night and operate in both rain and snow. A team of humans also monitors their progress remotely and can take control at a moment’s notice.
For more information visit Starship’s website.
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East Carolina University News Services
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Greenville, NC 27858
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Phone: 252-328-6481
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Contact: Jules Norwood, ECU News Services, norwoodd15@ecu.edu, 252-328-6481
Provided photos
Photos by Cliff Hollis/ECU
A fleet of autonomous robots now provides food deliveries on ECU’s main campus through the Grubhub app.
Starship’s robot delivery service works in conjunction with campus meal plans.