Grubhub, Yandex SDG Launch Robot Delivery at Ohio State

When students return to Ohio State University (OSU) this fall, they'll be able to will be able to order their favorite foods from on-campus dining locations via the Grubhub app and have them delivered by one of 50 robots.

More than 60,000 hungry Buckeyes will be able to order their favorite foods from on-campus dining locations via the Grubhub app and have them delivered by one of 50 Yandex Self-Driving Group (SDG) robots operating at the OSU campus in a fast and cost-effective way. The rovers operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Students can request robots to deliver food to every residence hall on campus as well as Thompson Library and Bricker Hall.

Rise of the Delivery Robots

College students around the country will see delivery robots making the rounds on campus. Recently, Kiwibot, Sodexo teamed up on robotic food delivery for universities.

Not to be outdone, QSR Chick-fil-A is testing robotic delivery in California, Domino’s is teaming up with Nuro to launch autonomous pizza delivery with on-road robot in Houston. Nuro, by the way, was approved for Autonomous Delivery in California in late December. And in March, Chipotle invested in the autonomous delivery company.
 

Yandex robots autonomously navigate pavements, campus crosswalks and pedestrian areas. They move around a large university campus swiftly at 3 to 5 miles per hour during daytime and after dark and in various weather conditions, including rain and snow. The robots are spacious enough to fit a couple of coffees and a bagel sandwich, or multiple pizzas, all while keeping the food at the right temperature.

OSU and Grubhub have worked together for years to offer students a variety of ways to enjoy the food they love on campus. Now we're building on our efforts to enhance the dining experience through Yandex's rover technology for quicker and easier deliveries, said Grubhub.