George Mason U rolls out food delivery robots on campus

Students, faculty and staff at George Mason University can now satisfy their cravings for foods like pizza, doughnuts and coffee by summoning a fleet of 25 autonomous delivery robots unleashed on the public campus this week.A partnership between Sodexo and robotics company Starship, the self-driving bots will make deliveries on campus from a handful of restaurants and coffee shops, including Dunkin' and Starbucks.Participants use an app to order their food and access it from within the temperature-controlled mobile unit. Each bot can hold up to three pizzas along with a couple of salads and drinks. The bots travel at 4 mph and — the university says — look both ways before crossing the street.Starship has so far raised $42.2 million from investors and its robots have completed more than 25,000 deliveries, TechCruch reported, but the George Mason venture is its first formal commercial deployment.PepsiCo this month brought three self-driving robots to the 175-acre campus of the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, where they'll deliver snacks and beverages ordered through a mobile app. An official with the food and beverage maker told The Washington Post that the robots tap into students' desire for healthy food on the go.