🔒Is that R2-D2? No it’s Kiwibot, a new food delivery robot at SCSU

It looks like a snazzy, tricked-out cooler on wheels but with a big difference: this food container moves on its own and even winks at you every once in a while.

Meet Kiwibot, a new robot food delivery service at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Since late October, 15 of the company’s bots have been zipping around the 172-acre campus delivering food and drink to students, faculty and staff.

“It’s been going really well,” said Robert DeMezzo, Southern’s senior director of conferences, event and student affairs auxiliaries. “The program took off immediately with a good amount of orders and deliveries.”

Sodexo, Southern’s food service provider, partnered with Kiwibot to bring the mobile food delivery service to the school, Sodexo General Manager Tony DeLuca said.

Users download an app that allows them to order food — bagels, coffee, doughnuts, sandwiches, burgers — from the school’s food court as well as the Owl’s Perch cafeteria in the library, DeLuca said.

A Kiwibot then brings orders to one of 38 locations on campus where customers can collect their food and drink.

The company guarantees delivery in 40 minutes, although it’s usually faster, DeLuca said. The service includes a small fee that is competitive with other food deliverers like Grubhub and Uber Eats, he said.

“It’s very user friendly,” DeLuca said. “I think it kind of hits all the things we were looking for in terms of a delivery service on campus.”

Good fit

DeLuca and DeMezzo said that the robots have been a big hit with students.

Vaguely reminiscent of the convivial Star Wars robot R2-D2, the autonomous delivery vehicles have a screen on the front displaying eyes in various configurations. Every now and then, the eyes dissolve into stars or hearts. At other times, the eyes are replaced by messages like “Hello” and “You Look Good.”

“There’s a cuteness factor to them, which is neat,” DeMezzo said.

The bots have proven so popular that Southern students have created social media accounts with photos of them in action, said Julian Echeverri, Kiwibot’s global operations and expansion manager. The company is pleased with the rollout at Southern so far, he said.

“We have seen the use of the service is increasing,” Echeverri said. “We’re excited about what’s ahead. As of now, we are happy with the potential of growth there.”

Southern is the first Connecticut school to use Kiwibot, said the company’s head of staff Natalie Gutierrez. The Columbia-based company, which has offices in Berkley, Calif., and Miami, Fla., operates the delivery robots at 27 universities nationwide, including schools in Massachusetts and Maine. The company plans to expand to at least eight more campuses next year, Gutierrez said.

The company decided to bring its service to Southern after concluding the school would be a good fit, Echeverri said.

The firm has another Connecticut university in its sights to add to its portfolio, Echeverri said, but he declined to identify the school as the deal is not yet final.

“The Northeast is one of our biggest hubs for our operations,” he said. “It eases everything when you have a cluster deployment.”

Kiwibots are temperature-controlled (they keep hot food hot, and cold food cold) and the wheeled containers are packed with software, sensors and cameras. They use artificial intelligence to map the best routes to their drop off points — information the company shares with schools so they can fine-tune their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Echeverri said.

Bad weather is not a problem thanks to the robots’ four-wheel drive — each wheel has its own motor, Echeverri said. Artificial intelligence helps the robots negotiate slippery surfaces. They even have their own raincoats for stormy conditions. One of the company’s earlier clients was the University of Denver, which sees a lot of snow.

"We didn’t have a day where we had to interrupt operations,” Echeverri said, adding that bad weather increases business because students don’t want to leave their dorms to get food.

What about theft? Do students have to worry about someone lifting the lid and filching their lunch and latte?

Not to worry, Echeverri said.

The bots are locked as they scurry around campus. At the rendezvous point, the customer unlocks them with a swipe of their phone and removes his or her order, he said. As far as stealing a bot, they are heavy and have an alarm if anyone tries to make off with one. They are also closely monitored by computer.

Given that the word “kiwi” is generally associated with China and New Zealand, it might seem odd at first glance that a Columbian company would bestow that name on its product. The explanation: the firm’s founder names his companies after his favorite fruits, Gutierrez said.

Looking ahead, DeLuca is bullish about the service’s future at Southern.

“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “I think it’s been received just so well in the community. We are really excited to have them here.”