Grubhub and autonomous vehicle developer, Yandex Self-Driving Group (SDG) will deploy robot delivery at The Ohio State University. The deployment at Ohio State marks the first university venture for the recently announced partnership between the two companies.
Robot delivery will be available to the more than 60,000 students and staff at OSU, and will offer food from on-campus dining locations via the Grubhub. Yandex will provide a fleet of 50 of the company’s robots operating on the OSU campus.
“We pride ourselves on offering an exceptional dining experience to students, and we’re always looking to provide new ways to make getting food on campus as convenient as possible,” says Zia Ahmed, senior director, dining services at The Ohio State University.
The rovers will provide deliveries from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week. Students can request robots to deliver food to every residence hall on campus, as well as a host of other popular campus locations.
Yandex robots autonomously navigate pavements, campus crosswalks and pedestrian areas. The robots can navigate a large university campus at 3-5 miles per hour during daytime and after dark and in various weather conditions, including rain and snow.
“OSU and Grubhub have worked together for years to offer students a variety of ways to enjoy the food they love on campus,” says Brian Madigan, vice president of corporate and campus partners at Grubhub. “Now we’re building on our efforts to enhance the dining experience through Yandex’s rover technology for quicker and easier deliveries.”
The robots are large enough to fit a multiple coffee cups and food bags, or multiple pizza boxes, as well as keep the food at the right temperature.
“Not only do the rovers enhance the current food delivery options, but open new possibilities for smarter, better and faster dining,” says Peter Szelei, business development executive at Yandex SDG. “Imagine ordering morning coffee and grabbing it from a robot waiting at your doorstep as you head out to class, or studying in a park with friends and requesting a rover to roll up and deliver snacks. We’re thrilled to support making these possibilities a reality.”
For more information on Grubhub and Yandex robot delivery visit grubhub.com.
