Robots are starting to deliver food on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. 

Following approval by the Minneapolis City Council, a year-long pilot program began at the start of September – up to 10 autonomous robots, known as ‘Personal Delivery Devices’ (PDD), will be rolling around campus. 

Three fast-food restaurants inside Cauffman Memorial Union—Starbucks, Panda Express, and Erbert & Gerber’s—are participating in the test run. City documents say the robots will mainly stay on campus and deliver to other East Bank campus buildings. 

“When the university staff met with me about this, I was like when, how, where do I see them,” LaTrisha Vetaw said excitedly during an August committee meeting to discuss the food-delivering robots. 

The city says the robots have environmental benefits, as they are electronically powered, and they could lead to fewer cars on the road delivering food. 

It’s also sparking concerns about the possibility of the bots impacting people’s livelihoods. 

“Robots taking people’s jobs [it’s] one concern I do have to be honest,” Councilmember Jason Chavez said. 

Fellow councilmember Aurin Chowdhury stressed the importance of reflecting on the findings after the year. 

“I hope and I trust our team, public works to do a really robust evaluation to really look back at and see if this is, so we can make a decision should it expand,” Chowdhury said. 

The robots are expected to stay on the sidewalks, not go faster than five-miles-per-hour, and a person can override the system to control it. 

According to the city, the partnership is with Starship Technologies – the company that will operate the robots claims to have delivered more than 6 million deliveries.