Southeast Missouri State University is making it more convenient for students to eat on campus by introducing robot food delivery service. The option to have food delivered will help busy students who may not have time to get to a dining hall in between classes or work obligations.
“The advantage of this program is that it is tailored to our campus and offers benefits for more than just students,” said Dr. Bruce Skinner, associate vice president for Student Life. “Our entire campus community, including faculty and staff, can now use this program to grab a meal from one of SEMO’s many dining venues. This opens up access for many people to enjoy on-campus dining by adding the convenience of having their meals brought to them.”
SEMO Dining has partnered with Starship Technologies to bring a fleet of autonomous, on-demand robots that will deliver from campus eateries: Redhawks Market (except Chikfila), Panda Express, Starbucks, Rowdy’s, and Subway. Students, faculty and staff will use the Starship app (iOS and Android) to order food and drinks from campus dining to be delivered anywhere on campus. Starship delivery provides the convenience of popular delivery services like GrubHub or UberEats, but works in conjunction with Flex Dollars and Redbucks.
Starship is already providing services to 50 campuses across the country. Since launch, all campuses have increased the number of robots, dining options and hours of operation to meet the high demand for the service.
Matthew Ludwig, Chartwells Resident District Manager, expressed confidence in the service's reception, “We’ve seen great success with Starship delivery at other campuses, and we’re excited to bring this convenience to SEMO students.”
Students, faculty and staff can use the Starship Deliveries app to choose from a range of their favorite food or drink items, and drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent. They can then watch as the robot makes its journey to them, via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can then meet and unlock it through the app. The delivery usually takes a matter of minutes, depending on the menu items ordered and the distance the robot must travel.
Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots have made more than 5 million autonomous deliveries, traveled millions of miles and make more than 150,000 road crossings every day. The robots use a combination of sophisticated machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensors to travel on sidewalks and navigate around obstacles. The computer vision-based navigation helps the robots to map their environment to the nearest inch. The robots can cross streets, climb curbs, travel at night and operate in both rain and snow. A team of humans can also monitor their progress remotely and can take control at a moment’s notice.
SEMO is hosting a Lucky Bot Giveaway and a Starship Instagram Giveaway through the first week of classes.
- Lucky Bot Giveaway: Some of our Starship robots will have a special gift inside your order!
- Starship Instagram Giveaway: Post a picture with your robot delivery, tag @semissouristate, @semodining, and @starshiprobots, and you’ll be entered to win a free gift!
Visit @semissouristate on Instagram for more details.