As the school year approaches and students ramp up to head back to campus, so are delivery bots. Starship Technologies has announced it added additional schools to its roster, now serving 50 college campuses across the U.S
Added schools include Wichita State University, Boise State University and The University of New Orleans.
The footprint expansion also comes as new features are released for the autonomous robots, such as wireless charging. The company states it’s, “the first delivery company to wirelessly charge its robots” which “increases utilization and efficiency.” The tech will be rolling out across all locations Starship serves.
Starship has been providing on-demand robot deliveries to U.S. college campuses since 2019. The company states the bots have become increasingly popular among students, referencing various social media pages devoted to them, often filled with robot selfies.
“Our robots have proved to be immensely popular, especially among college students who often adopt them as another campus mascot,” said Chris Neider, VP of business development at Starship Technologies.
Starship Technologies robots have been providing on-demand deliveries to U.S. college campuses since 2019.
The technology company is also adding to the robot’s repertoire by releasing character voice customization.
New this year, robot characters can be requested upon delivery, utilizing character voices described as: Sunshine (for a dose of positivity), Harry (British accent for butler experience) and Asher (keeping it cool and casual)—according to the company. Students can alternatively continue the option of having the robot play a song from a pre-selected list via the app.
“We like to keep innovating and the new schools and new robot characters are great additions for the new school year,” said Neider.
Service at most schools has launched or will launch soon, with some going live this school year. Delivery hours vary by campus and will include a variety of national and local eateries at each university. In most instances, the service is part of a student’s meal plan, in an effort to “make it convenient for students to get deliveries when and where they want them.”
Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its bots make more than 150,000 road crossings each day and have completed more than 5 million commercial deliveries thus far.
