Remember all those times in college when you were so hungover that you couldn’t drag your sorry ass out of bed to the dining hall? Someone at Purdue University remembers those times. Well, okay, that is probably not the only reason Purdue now has robots delivering food on its West Lafayette, Indiana, campus, but it’s a good one, right?
Anyway, the Greenfield Reporter writes, these robots are made by the company Starship Enterprises (a great name for a robotics company if we ever heard one). They look like squat little garbage cans, and they use sensors to navigate sidewalks and curbs and avoid obstacles. They can also handle rain and snow, which is key for a delivery business operating in Indiana. And they can hold up to 20 pounds, or three bags of groceries. All you have to do to summon one is use the app to drop a pin at wherever you happen to be, and the robot will be on its way. Each delivery costs $1.99 (a good deal!) and the service works with the student meal plan.
The service has previously been in operation at George Mason University in Virginia, but Purdue is about twice its size.
The only major downsides, as far as I can tell (besides the obvious hiccups that come with using new technology), are that you still have to get out of bed and go to the front door to get your food and that delivery options are limited to a pre-approved list of foods on the app. So Boilermakers, you’ll still have to undergo the time-honored ritual of the late-night beer run.