LANCASTER, Pa. — Leaders at one Lancaster college have introduced a new way to deliver food to students.
As part of a cooperative project with food services and facilities management company Sodexo, seven Kiwibots now deliver food across campus at Franklin and Marshall College.
Pitched to Sodexo during the pandemic, the project now has 15 food delivery points scattered throughout the campus.
School officials say they're still trying to get everyone used to the idea.
"It's [a] new technology, the students and the community still don't understand the concept," said the Assistant VP of Auxillary Services, Mike Baker. "Obviously one of the hurdles is downloading the app, getting students and folks using it to get familiar with the technology."
Baker continued, saying the robots aren't just to make student life easier but add another avenue for education.
"Obviously we want to make sure that it's successful, so if the program would grow it would also be an option for us to hire students from campus, who might have an interest in working with robotics in the future."
The Kiwibots launched in August of this year, just in time for the fall semester.
The college's staff said despite a slow rollout, the project has already experienced some success, and they are optimistic that an expansion could be in the future if more students use the subscription-based service.