New robots deliver food and amusement to SEMO students

A six wheeled robot loaded with coffee and breakfast food rolled away from the University Center on Tuesday. Busy students stopped to take pictures as it navigated crosswalks on its way to Memorial Hall.

There it found junior English education major Madison Varner and greeted her with a song and dance.

These robots are part of a new food delivery service brought to the university by SEMO Dining and Starship Technologies.

Starship Delivery Robot travels down Greek Hill to reach its final destination of Towers Residence Hall.Photo by Lily Niebrugge

The delivery service is available during restaurant hours and can operate in rain and snow.

The food is delivered to the customer’s location onboard the robot using a GPS pin drop. They can even play music and dance when they arrive.

“It was a lot of fun. If you need some cheering up, it’s great,” Varner said. “I definitely think people should do it at least once.”

For others, like senior early childhood development major Dani Sitze, avoiding restaurant crowds is the main attraction.

“It seems cool,” Sitze said. “Less contact with people, and I’m kind of antisocial anyway.”

However, convenience and accessibility are the primary motivations behind the service, according to Alicia Ticer, SEMO Dining’s director of marketing and student engagement.

Two Starship delivery robots pass each other outside of Dempster Hall.Photo by Lily Niebrugge

According to Starship’s website, safety and security are top priorities. The robots will yield right of way to pedestrians and other vehicles and can only be opened by the person who placed the order.

Starship sent the robots to SEMO over the summer to learn the layout of the campus, Ticer said. The vehicles have numerous cameras to observe the environment. In addition, the three axles can articulate in order to clear curbs or other obstacles.

“I don’t think they’re necessarily made for a campus this hilly,” Varner said.

Sitze witnessed one robot flip on its top during her commute to class. Other students have shared videos of flipped or stuck Starship robots onto their social media.

Despite some of the issues the machines are facing, they are continuing to learn and adapt to the routes they take, Ticer said.

“We ask for everyone to be kind to our robot friends. Much like this is the first week of classes for our students, it’s also the first week of deliveries for our Starship fleet,” Ticer said. “You can flip it back over if you see it fallen. It’ll thank you and make its way back to its home.”

Starship Delivery Robot crosses the street in front of Towers Residence Hall to deliver food to freshman early childhood major Nakiya BlacksurePhoto by Lily Niebrugge

Starship Technologies has introduced the delivery systems to over 50 universities in the United States, including Missouri State University and Missouri S&T.

In the event of a malfunction, the machines can be remotely controlled by a Starship technician.

One SEMO student, whose identity was not disclosed, was hired as a local Starship technician for the school.

Starship delivery robots do not currently service River Campus.

SEMO Dining used the starship robots for random giveaways during the first week of class. While that promotion has ended, there will be more in the future, Ticer said.