In collaboration with Starship Technologies, Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has become the first university in Ohio to offer a robot food delivery service on its campus.

A partnership between Starship Technologies and BGSU’s food-service provider, Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services, will result in Starship’s fleet of 30 autonomous, on-demand robots making deliveries from nine campus eateries including Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Panda Express.

BGSU’s nearly 23,000 students, faculty and staff, along with campus visitors, can now use the Starship app to order food and drinks from these eateries to be delivered anywhere on campus, within minutes. The service, which will initially be limited to the core campus area, accepts credit cards, and also works in conjunction with student meal plans.

“As a public University, we’re committed to harnessing technology and innovation, inside and out of the classroom, to better serve our students and the community,” says BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers.

“We’re pleased to welcome autonomous delivery to our campus and excited to leverage the latest state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to engage current and future students.”

As the case with Starship's delivery services on other campuses, users start the delivery process by opening the Starship Deliveries app and selecting what they want. After choosing their desired items, users decide where they want their delivery to be sent by selecting a location on the service map and dropping a pin.

Using an interactive map, users can then watch as the robot makes its journey to them. Once the robot arrives, users receive an alert, and can then meet and unlock it through the app.

The delivery is usually completed within minutes, depending on the menu items ordered and the distance the robot has to travel. Each robot is capable of carrying up to 20 pounds, which is the equivalent of approximately three shopping bags of goods.

“We can’t wait for students, faculty and staff at BGSU to start benefiting from autonomous delivery on campus,” says Ryan Tuohy, SVP Business Development at Starship Technologies. “We’re proud to be working with BGSU and Chartwells to be the first autonomous delivery service in the state of Ohio.”

Starship’s robots can travel on sidewalks and navigate around obstacles thanks to a combination of sophisticated machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensors. The robots can map their environment to the nearest inch with help from the computer vision-based navigation.

Capable of operating in both rain and snow, as well as during the night, the robots can also cross streets and climb curbs. Their progress can be monitored remotely by a team of humans, who can take control of the robots at a moment’s notice.