At the beginning of the school year, Cal Poly began rolling out the use of Grubhub Starship robots designed to deliver food across campus more efficiently.
The goal is convenience and improving the student experience.
“A lot of my friends, they are studying and they don't have time to go out and get food," said Cal Poly student Sophia Routher. "It's really convenient to order whenever you want to get your food and continue studying.”
After partnering with the online food delivery platform Grubhub during COVID-19, this year the university expanded that service by partnering with Starship Technologies to bring in 41 robots that deliver to 90 different locations across campus.
“We're always kind of strategically thinking about what does the student now want and also what the future wants,” said Russell Monteath, Cal Poly Director of Commercial Services.
According to Monteath, this past week alone, the robots have fulfilled more than 200 orders a day during finals week.
The robots were rolled out earlier in the year after being deployed in the summer to map out all the locations. They stop and adjust on the go, making sure they don’t run into traffic or people as they get to their location. Because they don't own the robots, the only cost to Cal Poly is storing them in their on-campus facilities, charging them, and making sure they are connected properly to their network in order to navigate their way around campus.
“I think it's funny," Routher admitted about the robots. "They're going where they need to go. I feel like it's become normal on campus.“
Students pay a flat fee of $3.50 per delivery and Monteath says that since their partnership with Grubhub, 85-90% of their dining transactions are through the platform creating between $30-40 million of revenue. Monteath said that in the future, they'd also like to use the robots to deliver groceries to students.
“It really is a convenience and just added experience for our students and our faculty and staff on campus,” Monteath said.
