We all know of food delivery services like Grubhub or Postmates. You get on the app, order pizza and someone delivers it to your house. But now at UNLV, your food can be delivered by a robot.
Starship Technologies, GrubHub and UNLV's food service provider, Aramark, have partnered to bring Starship food delivery robots to UNLV’s campus.
Ailisha Vaughn, marketing manager for Aramark, said that through the GrubHub app, UNLV students from anywhere on campus can order food and the robot will deliver it straight to them. This didn't used to be the case; as human food delivery drivers would only be able to deliver and meet a student at the student union our outside their dorm.
That convenience factor is a game-changer for the busy lives of college students who sometimes skip meals to do things in a timely manner during school days.
Additionally, the usage of the delivery robots actually costs less than the regular cost of having a human deliver the food. Not to mention that even though the robot is, well, a robot, it still manages to have human qualities to it. It's cute, it greets you, thanks you, and can even carry some small talk. Simple things like this Vaughn said has made students happier and thrilled to engage with new technology.
However, students in college campuses may not be the only ones that take use of Starships's food delivery robots in the coming years.
Starship Technologies started deploying robots back in 2014, and the robots have already started delivering on public sidewalks throughout Europe. And even though Starship robots in the U.S. are only operating on college campuses for now, Vice President of Marketing for Starship technologies Henry Harris-Burland said they intend to have the robots one day roam U.S. sidewalks, too.
Guests: Ailisha Vaughn, marketing manager, Aramark; Henry Harris-Burland, vice president of marketing, Starship Technologies
