Stonehill College Will Deploy Robots For Food Delivery

EASTON, MA — Students at Stonehill College who often want a hot meal but don't want to leave the comfort of their dorms are in luck — Kiwibot food delivery robots are just weeks away from arriving on campus, the startup company told Patch.

The robots operate on an autonomous system that can withstand snow and extreme weather conditions with zero carbon emissions, therefore reducing the campus' carbon footprint, according to Kiwibot.

"This is one of the first of several universities in Massachusetts that will have access to delivery robots," the company wrote in a news release, adding that the robots will "improve students’ lives with accessible, affordable and sustainable food delivery services on campus."

The robots use 3D mapping to learn their environment as they travel down sidewalks between campus and local restaurants, picking up and delivering loads weighing as much as 40 pounds, Kiwibot's Director of Global Operations John Tarin told Patch.

Like each of the other roughly 30 universities already using Kiwibot, Stonehill will have an onsite Kiwibot team with a repair shop at all times once robots arrive on campus, according to Tarin.

The onsite team will supervise deliveries and be available to help the robots if needed, though Tarin emphasized that the Kiwibots are 100% autonomous.

To use the delivery service, students and faculty will be able to use Sodexo’s Everyday app to place orders at local restaurants. Then, a robot will pick up the food deliver it to the selected drop-off location on campus, according to Kiwibot.

So why choose delivery by Kiwibot over other food-delivery services?

"It is cheaper than UberEats — you will spend three to four times less," Tarin told Patch. "And you will get the food within 20-25 minutes."

Kiwibot was founded in 2017 and launched its first pilot at the University of California-Berkeley campus, according to the company's website. Since then, Kiwibots have made over 200,000 deliveries on university campuses in the United States.

Looking to the future, five or ten years down the line, Tarin says he sees Kiwibots still rolling down the streets.

"We want everyone to have a cheap delivery," Tarin said. "What we're trying to do is improve everyday life."