Spark of Inspiration

This past weekend, I was at Notre Dame University. I was walking around campus when I heard this electric zooming sound. I looked to my right, just in time to see (2) Grubhub food delivery robots going by. One of them ran into a person. They are that FAST.

My photo is a bit blurry, because I had to be quick to take the picture. Here’s a better look at the signage.

A few years ago, I had seen a news clip on Starship Technologies, founded by Skype co-founders, Ahti Heinz’s and Janus Frits. They created their first prototype of this food delivery robot in August 2014. Ten years later, they are global.

Their partnership with Grubhub was genius. They are on 50 campuses across the United States. Each bot costs approximately $5,500. Their goal is to get the cost down. Notre Dame has 30 bots on campus. I’m sure other campuses have a lot too. Fully charged, the robots run for 18 hours.

These robots are on a tight schedule. They wait 12 minutes for pick up. If you do not retrieve your meal in that timeframe, your order is canceled and you are still charged. That’s fair!

Oh, when you place your order, you can choose a song for the robot to play when you retrieve your meal. That’s a unique idea!

It was fun running into these delivery robots! Two at once, students cramming for exams?

Keep a look out, you might see a food delivery robot sooner than you think! If you do, make way, they have a delivery to make!