Starship Food Delivery Service Demo
Starship Food Delivery Service Demo
August 2021
Imagine you’ve had a busy day of being out and about on campus, and you finally get home only to realize you need a few things from the grocery store—dish soap and some coffee creamer for tomorrow morning, let’s say. You could head back out and run across the street to CVS or a block farther to Whole Foods, or you could have a robot deliver it right to your front door! (Or any of the entrances to Mirabella, to be exact.)
ASU is introducing Starship food delivery service, a small robot that brings you anything from the eateries and markets on campus. That includes retailers from the Memorial Union: Starbucks, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Pei Wei, Qdoba, Engrained, Jamba Juice, Oath Pizza, Subway, or the POD Market, where you can get anything from headphones and small electronics to cleaning supplies, school supplies, snacks, and groceries.
Once you order your dish soap and coffee creamer on the mobile app, you monitor the robot’s location until it notifies you that it’s outside of the Mirabella main entrance waiting for you. (Good thing, because those dishes aren’t going to wash themselves!) You go downstairs to the concierge desk, click the button on your app that opens your delivery robot, and—voila!—there are your items! The whole thing only cost you the price of your items plus a $2 delivery fee. No tipping, ever!
For anyone who has attended one of my campus tours, or even just taken a stroll through campus, these robots are hard to miss. During the summer when few people were on campus to create a delivery demand, we saw their fleets parked in specific spots near the Memorial Union. When you see them on their way to pick up or deliver an order, they can be seen adeptly navigating around barriers on the sidewalk, waiting patiently at crosswalks, and even politely excusing themselves if they are trying to pass someone.
We enjoyed a full demonstration from ASU’s Starship technology fleet manager and met staff from Aramark, ASU’s campus-based food and facilities operator. The presentation, which took place in the morning in Mirabella’s auditorium, included a breakfast order of a bagel and orange juice from Einstein Bros. Bagels. The order arrived within about 20 minutes of the start of the presentation and allowed us to see the process from start to finish. The robots are designed to keep hot coffee hot and frozen food frozen. They can hold up to 25 lbs. and are big enough to carry up to 3 shopping bags or 6 pizzas from Oath Pizza!
We enjoyed a full demonstration from ASU’s Starship technology fleet manager and met staff from Aramark, ASU’s campus-based food and facilities operator. The presentation, which took place in the morning in Mirabella’s auditorium, included a breakfast order of a bagel and orange juice from Einstein Bros. Bagels. The order arrived within about 20 minutes of the start of the presentation and allowed us to see the process from start to finish. The robots are designed to keep hot coffee hot and frozen food frozen. They can hold up to 25 lbs. and are big enough to carry up to 3 shopping bags or 6 pizzas from Oath Pizza!
Even though it’s hard to imagine a more convenient location than Mirabella to access anything you need from local restaurants and convenience stores in downtown Tempe, these robots remind me how cool it is to be on ASU’s campus. Next time you’re walking around and see one of these cute little guys, you’ll know it’s not an alien invasion; instead—someone will soon get their cup of coffee from Starbucks!
