Starship Technologies, a start-up Food delivery company, plans engaging robotics to expand its food delivery services; among its goals is reaching out to one hundred United States colleges in two years.
Starship Technologies present delivery service extends to the Northern Arizona University, and George Mason University. Their extension service will also reach out to the University of Purdue, Indiana by September, while Pittsburgh more sooner.
In its recent funding campaign, it gathered forty million dollars. A total of eight-five million dollars now stand as the start-up’s total fund acquired.
Starship Technologies progress in robot food deliveries
Starship Technologies, one of the pioneers in robot-engaged food delivery services, is doing well in the University market. Students rarely have access to the full kitchen to prepare their food, hence, the rapid success of the start-up in the colleges.
Starship Technologies provides convenience food delivery service to several Universities. In their list is George Mason University, where the students plan with their daily meal plans and get their food delivered rapidly by one of the robots.
The Starship Technologies entrance into University premises has circumvented food regulations that would limit its services in the urban areas. Universities harbor less stringent food compliance with robot delivery companies. For instance, San Fransisco has Postmates as one of the licensing bodies to scrutinize and give permits to a robot -food delivery company.
Criteria by Postmates is that robot food delivery companies have human courier stationed at least thirty feet away from the robot. Also, they demand that only three deliveries are possible per time.
Starship Technologies, to meet -up with the demands of the regulatory body, has engaged the use of locks, high tech cameras and GPS on the robot. Also, their strong competitor, Kiwi, already servicing UC Berkeley. They have their robot enabled with trackable devices, as well as human monitors to control the robots from the designated points.
Starship Technologies food delivery concerns
These technologies have been made possible by the application of artificial intelligence in the food industry. Nevertheless, this idea is still in its nascent stage and has not been widely accepted in urban areas.
There are concerns about how the delivery robots would thrive in the busy metropolitan areas. Norman Yee, the San Francisco Supervisor, states
The business model is basically getting as many robots out there to do deliveries, and somebody in some office will monitor all these robots. So at that point, you’re inviting potential collisions with people.
His comments clearly show how nascent technology is and how it has not been widely accepted. More improvement technologies must be introduced into the business.
Starship Technologies future plans
In the view of other people, the application of artificial intelligence in food delivery service is a welcome idea, especially as it concerns the elderly and physically disabled individuals in the community.
At the launch of Starship Technologies in George Mason University, a total of one thousand and five hundred orders and deliveries had been made. This shows that the idea sounds useful to the student, and it’s helping them solving challenges surrounding their frequent skipping of breakfasts.
The CEO of Starship Technologies, Mr. Lex Bayer expressed hope of reaching out to one million students in the nearest future. He believes that the recent investment in the company will enable the actualization of his vision for the food delivery company. This is in line with the estimations of from MarketsandMarkets that the robot food delivery business will triple its size by 2024.
Robotics can revolutionize education in more ways than one, and it simply takes imagination to expand the use of robots to everyday life.
