GPS Tracking Being Used on Robot-Delivered Food-On-Demand on College Campuses
20 Aug 2019George Mason University, located in Fairfax, VA has a delivery system that is taking campus by storm. As of now, students, faculty, and staff can order food and drink delivery from a fleet of helpful robots.
The program came about as the result of a partnership between Starship Technologies, an area robotics firm, and major food services organization Sodexo. Service to students and staff is made possible via the Starship Deliveries app, which promises to deliver a complete transformation of college food services with brands like Starbucks, Blaze Pizza, and even Dunkin’ Donuts getting on board and offering delivery to hungry students and staff across college campuses.
The robot can be tracked via GPS as it makes its delivery so starving students and associate professors can track the progress of their food or coffee fixes, as the case may be. Upon arrival, the robot sends users an alert and they can unlock the robot’s door, so they can receive their items, and make payments via their mobile phone apps.
George Mason is not the only college campus in the country using this type of technology for food deliveries and more. Union Pacific College, located in Stockton, California also offers a similar service via the “Snackbot” app.
College campuses are excellent testing grounds for technologies such as these. They are large sprawling campuses that offer a huge audience in one general location to serve as a proving ground. Additionally, college students are often open to trying new technologies to see how well they work and offer feedback to assist developers with possible information they can use to improve the service and make it even more widely useful to students and beyond.
One interesting note is that GPS tracking-based services, such as robot and drone delivery services appear to be highly appealing to millennials. They appreciate the convenience of automated voice-based ordering services and widely accept the use of technology in all aspects of their daily lives.
While some companies are already beginning to use drones for food delivery, Uber and Pieology (a pizza chain) are prime examples, the idea of using robots for tasks such as this is something that is just beginning to be widely viable. These cases may be important first glances, but they are certainly important steps to wider services that can be used on large work campuses (think Google and Microsoft), in hospitals, research facilities, and more.
Thanks to GPS tracking and robotics technology we are beginning to see that even the skies are no longer limits.
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