'(2 Nov 2021) LEAD IN: Robot food delivery is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Hundreds of little robots are now navigating college campuses and city sidewalks in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere. STORY-LINE: Robot food delivery is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Hundreds of little robots - knee-high and able to hold around four large pizzas - are now navigating college campuses and city sidewalks in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere. While robots were being tested in limited numbers before the coronavirus hit, companies say pandemic-related labor shortages and a growing preference for contactless delivery have vastly accelerated their deployment. Starship Technologies has recently completed its 2 millionth delivery. The company has more than 1,000 robots in its fleet, up from just 250 in 2019. Hundreds more will be deployed soon. They\'re delivering food on 20 US campuses, 25 more will be added soon. They\'re also operating on sidewalks in Milton Keynes, England; Modesto, California; and the company\'s hometown of Tallin, Estonia. Robot designs vary - some have four wheels and some have six. But generally, they use cameras, sensors, GPS and sometimes laser scanners to navigate sidewalks and even cross streets autonomously. They move around 5 miles per hour. Remote operators keep tabs on multiple robots at a time, but they say they rarely need to hit the brakes or steer around an obstacle. When a robot arrives at its destination, customers type a code into their phones to open the lid and retrieve their food. The robots have drawbacks that limit their usefulness for now. They\'re electric, so they must recharge regularly. They\'re slow, and they generally stay within a small, pre-mapped radius. They\'re also inflexible. A customer can\'t tell a robot to leave the food outside the door, for example. And some big cities with crowded sidewalks, like New York, Beijing and San Francisco, aren\'t welcoming them. Patrick Sheck, a junior at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, gets deliveries from a Starship robot three or four times a week as he\'s leaving class. \"Students love them. They\'re part of the BG family now. They\'re recognized all over campus, and they just blend in well with the student population,\" Sheck says. \"The robot pulls up just in time for me to get some lunch,\" he adds Bowling Green and Starship charge $1.99 plus a service fee for each robot delivery. \"It\'s gone from being really just a nice thing to have to really more of an essential service. And our students are loving it,\" says Frank Comery from Starship technologies. Delivery companies are also jumping into the market. Grubhub recently partnered with Russian robot maker Yandex to deploy 50 robots on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Grubhub plans to add more campuses soon, although the company stresses that the service won\'t go beyond colleges for now. Yandex used technology developed for its self-driving cars to build and deploy more than 100 robots globally over the last year. It\'s also testing the robots in Moscow and Israel. \"I think, right now, we\'re at that point where, for something like these delivery rovers, the technology, we believe, is really ready to roll out in a big way,\" said Toby Snuggs, Yandex\'s head of sales, noting the uptick in demand for meal delivery during the pandemic. U.S. delivery orders jumped 66% in the year ending in June. That\'s according to NPD, a data and consulting firm. And delivery demand could remain elevated even after the pandemic eases, because customers have gotten used to the convenience. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4dbc1cf6893849bea8f7f1e09d16ab60'
Tags: Lifestyle , Health , technology , United States , ohio , Michigan , united kingdom , Western Europe , AP Archive , Social affairs , Ann Arbor , Bowling Green , Erik Gordon , Frank Comery , Patrick Sheck , Toby Snuggs , 4351000 , 4dbc1cf6893849bea8f7f1e09d16ab60 , HZ US Robot Food Deliveries
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