AKRON, Ohio — University of Akron Junior Beau Balizet is using the Starship app to order food for the first time. He said it’s not too different from other third-party delivery apps.
“All the features are very familiar, the way to get through it,” Balizet said. “The interface is very familiar, so it’s very easy to get through and very easy to navigate.”
But instead of a car, a robot collects the food. It’s part of a new partnership between the school; Starship Technologies, who build the robots; and Aramark, the food provider for the school. Students are still getting used to seeing these things rolling around campus.
“They’re definitely becoming an icon on campus, just because, you know, they’re very cool,” Balizet said. “They’re very innovative.”
Sophomore Evan Smyth said the robots were cute.
“They’re like a cool, new, creative idea,” Smyth said.
There are about 10 robots on campus, and they’re programmed to know the entire campus map. At the end of the day, they can talk to each other.
“Every night when they dock, they kind of share the information that they’ve collected that day when they’ve done deliveries,” said Christine Boyd, the university’s director of external communications. “So if they run into an obstacle, they’ll let the other robots know that ‘You may have to watch for that when you go this direction.’”
The school started the partnership because it wanted a more convenient way for students to order food. Students have to pay a $2.95 service fee to use the robot, but school officials said that could be less expensive than some larger third party delivery apps, and the robots are more convenient since the campus grounds aren’t meant for cars.
“You can take a pin and drop it exactly on your location,” Boyd said. “So whatever building that you are on campus or if you’re in your residence hall, it knows how to make itself right to your door wherever you drop that pin.”
Balizet said ordering through the robot was much faster than walking and waiting.
“Two, three-ish minutes,” Beau said. “Little more, little less, but it’s definitely very quick. It did say between five to 10.”
Balizet said he will use these robots again, especially if he needs a quick meal or a pick-me-up between classes. He said that’s helpful when time is tight.
“You can’t have drivers on campus, so you know, if you’re coming to class or you’re going to class, and you want to have something to order, you want some food, you can just have it come to you,” he said.
School officials said students can order meals through their meal plans. They also said the robots are popular, so they may expand the fleet depending on how often they’re used and the demand for them.