Winthrop Dining Services announced the addition of some new artificially-intelligent staff via Instagram on Aug. 18. They’re called Kiwibots- semi-autonomous 22”x17” insulated containers on wheels that aim to be a cheaper alternative to mainstream delivery services like Grubhub and DoorDash.
The process went live on Aug. 7, so students can now order a Kiwibot delivery using the Everyday app. Students can select from various on-campus menu items and arrange to have their food delivered to Community Collection Points that will be posted on social media. When they confirm the order and meet the bot, they will be able to unlock it via a button on the app.
Users can opt-in to one of three subscription plans, or make direct payments as needed. The Kiwibot Silver Plan offers 15 deliveries at $40 per semester, the Gold Plan offers 45 deliveries at $109 per semester, and the Platinum Plan offers 70 deliveries at $159 per semester. Individual deliveries are roughly $2 each.
There are 15 Kiwibots available for use by faculty, staff, and students.
General Manager Helen Hoban says Sodexo chose to introduce the bots instead of delegating deliveries to student employees because “it’s fun and different.”
“We do hire a great deal of employees, but the Kiwibots were suggested as something–a partnership between Sodexo and Kiwibot has come forward– and we just thought it would be really fun and exciting to have them,” Hoban said.
This partnership between Sodexo and Kiwibot comes from a campaign to integrate Kiwibots with at least 50 college campuses across North America according to Sodexo’s website. Winthrop’s machines are monitored and controlled remotely from room 256 in the Digiorgio Student Union to bring students what is available for delivery in the area.
As of right now, Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks are not available for delivery.
“This is a Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks decision,” says Marketing Manager Roxy Flory, “Because we have a full Starbucks store, we can’t deliver. If we were only selling Starbucks in a small kiosk or something, we could, but because we are fully licensed on everything, they won’t allow us to yet. But, everyone at Sodexo and Kiwibot is trying because we know that’s what students want to have.”
Current options include Eagle Eatery, Markley’s Food Court, Einstein Bros Bagels, Mr. Beast Burger, and Mariah Carey’s Cookies.
Dining Services says that while the student’s response has been “mostly positive” there has been issues with bystanders kicking and mistreating them, which is considered destruction of University property per the Student Conduct Code.
According to the Operations Strategy and U.S. Expansion Manager for Kiwibot, Julian Echeverri, the robots capture data regarding the sidewalk infrastructure that is shared with the University to ensure ADA compliance and efficiency since the bots will not necessarily share all the same obstacles that wheelchair users experience. However, they cannot climb stairs, use elevators, or open doors.
Hoban says that at least 5 people have signed up for a subscription thus far, and that Dining Services hopes to host a naming contest to personalize each of the bots and encourage student engagement.
