Best Concepts: Starship Technologies delivery robots bring meals to Bowling Green State University campus and larger community

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Dining Services, Chartwells Higher Education and Starship Technologies have been named winners of the 2020 FM Best Concept Award in the Best Customer Service category for their deployment of meal delivery robots not only to campus customers but customers in the surrounding community as well. More recently, the service expanded to include grocery deliveries from retail grocery chain Kroger.

The streets of the BGSU campus and surrounding community in western Ohio are nice and flat…perfect for bike riding, skateboarding…or for a fleet of robots to bring sustenance to those stuck inside.

Just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down in-person classes, BGSU Dining and Starship Technologies, a San Francisco-based company, turned a fleet of robots loose on campus to deliver meals from a variety of concepts.

The first deliveries into the community included Dunkin Donuts for the police and fire departments.

Starting this summer, Chartwells, BGSU and the dining team have expanded robot delivery to include parts of the city of Bowling Green.

“Because of our strong partnership with the city, the university is honored to now offer expanded robot delivery service as another option to residents during this unprecedented time,” says Michael Paulus, director of BGSU Dining.

The first deliveries into the community included Dunkin Donuts for the police and fire departments, and since the program started, families have been having fun with the robots, going out on “robot safaris” to find them around town. Deliveries are averaging in the hundreds each day, and with every delivery, the robots learn their neighborhoods better.

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You can learn more about the program here.