An article written by the Washington Post on March 25 of this year introduces a new kind of delivery service which began at George Mason University in January that seems too advanced to be true: robots. Although they’re not the robots we imagine as talking and operating like humans, they are robots that are the size of coolers whose specific task is to deliver food to students across its campus. These robots were launched by Starship Technologies and are incorporated into the students’ dining meal plans for $1.99 per delivery. But shouldn’t these robots be hurting students by making them become inactive? With this possibility in mind, it’s easier to understand that with every innovation comes a setback, but also a beneficent design to make people’s lives easier. In the case of George Mason’s robots, they are helping students rather than causing harm by allowing them to eat breakfast. This may seem like a small adjustment, but breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, and for it to be so important it’s worrying that it’s the most skipped meal.
With this newly acquired development, “The robots also provide campus officials with valuable data showing what time students are eating, where that food is coming from and how meal plans are being used.” This data reveals helpful information that can not only be valuable for the students, but for the university as well. The university can then be able to adjust food options that would be more viable to the students.
I believe this new technology will change the way universities operate regarding students’ college experience. Having the convenience of the university’s food delivered at a time best for the students will generate the feeling that the university cares about the well-being of their students, which in turn may cause more people to be interested in the university. Students are then able to have the meals they want to generate a healthier lifestyle without having to worry about disrupting their studying or working. The establishment of the robots is successful thus far, so maybe universities across the country will follow in its footsteps and implement a similar strategy.
3 comments:
Being a college student, it is easy to relate to this article. The thought of having food delivered to the door every morning is not something any young adult would want to pass up, however I do not think it is the best idea. Eating at the dining halls or going out to get food with friends, involves way more than just eating. If students don’t have to go out of the house to eat, that is less time they are socializing and exercising. According to Childhood Obesity Facts, the highest rate of obesity applies to the age groups that are in college with 20% of kids being obese. Although, not walking a few steps to the dining hall does not seem like it could be a cause of obesity it can still be an underlining issue. If students know they could get breakfast delivered to their doors, they will then get lunch and dinner delivered leading to an entire day of not leaving their dorm. Another major issue in our generation is mental health. If students are getting every meal delivered to their dorm rooms this leads to them being lazy, unmotivated and it could hurt their mental health.
Although, I do agree that there are some positives to these robots like monitoring students eating habits and giving feedback to the chefs. These positives are something many universities have thrived without for years. These robots would also change the atmosphere of the campus. If students are on tours and the dining hall is not lively or sociable it might turn them away from attending that university. Tuition in America is already sky rocketing, adding these robots to campuses will eventually add up in expenses leading to the meal plan prices to go up. I do not think this is a good idea for our generation because we are already so reliant on social media and texting that we are becoming less and less sociable. Human interaction in dining halls and restaurants is important.
This article was very relatable and interesting to read. As someone who uses food delivery services occasionally, this is something I could get behind. When I use an app such as UberEats or Postmates, I sometimes run into problems. One of them has to do with the number of drivers available. When I place an order later in the night, the service will accept my payment and show me my estimated delivery time. As the night goes on, my estimated delivery time will get later and later. After almost an hour of waiting, my order will get cancelled due to the lack of drivers available in the area. I hate when this happens because instead of telling me within 5-10 minutes that there are no drivers available, the service makes me wait very long to let me know my food can not be picked up. Another problem that I have run into a few times and I know that many others have is when the driver steals the food. This happens when the driver picks up your food and confirms within the app that they delivered it to your location. This not only takes your food away, but sometimes you will also lose the money you spent to order that food. These two problems would hopefully go away with this new robot. I believe that this robot could do positive things like bring food across campus to a resident building. I would have my concerns with it, however. I would be worried with the security of the food. Could someone grab the robot, break it and steal the food out of it? I would also like to see how far this robot could transfer the food from. Would it be food only from places on campus? These are questions that would have to be answered before rolling this robot out to campuses around the country.
I definitely think this is a good innovation to the food delivery service that will hopefully continue to expand further than delivering college campus food to students. Before moving into my dorm at Loyola in the fall, I had never used Ubereats, Postmates, or any other food delivery service beyond what the typical pizza or chinese restaurant offered. Now, I use one of these delivery services on average 1-3 times per week. I agree that these services can be worrying as they appear to make college students less active, but I feel they provide more benefits than problems. Often, college students may find themselves too tired to cook a meal, too short on time to walk across campus and get food to bring to their dorm, or without a car to go pick up their own food. These delivery robots would allow those students to get the food they need without having to go through using time they could be doing homework or studying cooking or walking across campus. Personally, the time it takes me to walk to get food and back to my room can take me an additional 30 minutes. With robots doing the work, the time it takes for food to arrive can be used continuing to do productive work rather. Many times in the morning and afternoon before classes, I end up skipping breakfast or lunch because I simply do not have the time to go grab food or make something by the time I am done getting ready for class. With these delivery robots that are beginning to be made, the large amount of college students that currently skip meals will have an easier way to ensure they are able to get their meals. I also think delivery robots would be beneficial to regular restaurants beyond just college campus food. If restaurants can begin to implement functioning robots that deliver, they may be to make their delivery services more efficient and also remove the extra wages they have to pay to human delivery people. While this then poses the issue that a large amount of people will be losing their jobs, I do think many people will think robot delivery services are preferential as they can then remove the worries of needing to tip and whether or not their food could have been tampered with. Overall, I think the idea of robots that deliver food is a great innovation, though it may take time to make them as efficient as needed to be rolled out beyond just college campuses.
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