On Wednesday, Ball State University launched for use by
its entire campus community Starship Technologies delivery robots. A fleet of
24 robots will deploy at Ball State—providing food, snacks, and drink delivery from
a variety of dining locations on campus.
“The Starship robots provide our students, faculty and
staff, and campus visitors a safe and effective way to have food delivered to
their location,” said Karen
Adkins, senior director of auxiliary services for dining, catering, and
events. “This will make for a more enjoyable campus experience while saving
time for those who use the service.”
Individuals wanting to utilize the robots must download
the Starship Food Delivery app in the App Store or Google Play. Once
in the app, users can order from their favorite campus dining locations, select
a delivery location or drop a pin where they’d like to meet the robot, and have
food delivered anywhere on campus. Other details, including hours of operation
and from which dining locations food is available for delivery, will be
available in the app.
Each robot—equipped with six wheels and obstacle
detection, including 12 cameras, ultrasonic sensors, radars, and more—can
deliver the equivalent of three shopping bags of goods.
“We’re excited to expand our services in Indiana,” said
Chris Neider, director of business development at Starship Technologies. “Ball
State has a very close-knit campus and we think the students will love having
the robots become part of their community to make their lives more convenient
and probably a little more fun as well with robots!”
Starship provides services to campuses across the country.
Its zero-emission robots have made more than 3.5 million autonomous deliveries,
traveled millions of miles, and make more than 140,000 road crossings every
day.
For additional information about Starship robots at Ball
State, visit this webpage.