College officials should consider food-delivery robots and other ways to support students' campus dining needs.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the latest institution to have autonomous robots delivering meals to students and staff.

Date Posted
12/23/2019
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Identifier
2019-L00922

UW-Madison is the latest campus to roll out food delivery robots

Summary Information


The university has deployed 30 robots by Starship Technologies on campus that can deliver from three dining halls. The small, boxy white vehicles can carry up to 20 pounds and can reach their destination within minutes of being deployed. Users order through a mobile app, indicate where they want it delivered, watch the robot's journey to the destination, and unlock the container once it arrives. Each delivery includes a $1.99 fee.

Lessons Learned

Students on college campuses are looking to services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash for access to off-campus restaurants and more convenient options instead of traditional campus dining venues. College officials are offering more convenient ways to order food from campus dining venues.



Aramark, which offers dining services for at least 400 U.S. Colleges, bought Good Uncle, an app-based food delivery service, earlier this year. Grubhub, another food-delivery service, acquired Tapingo, a company that catered its deliveries to college students, last year.



"An entire generation of university students are growing up in a world where they expect to receive a delivery from a robot after a few taps on their smartphone," said Starship CEO Lex Bayer.

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