Kiwi robots deliver food for Berkeley campus students

Cortes claims that the company has already delivered more than 10,000 orders using its Kiwi bots. Unlike San Francisco that has banned delivery bots from city streets for fear they would takeover sidewalks, the robots can still operate on the Berkeley campus.

The campus also provides what seems to be an endless resource of hungry students. The smaller size of the robots compared to some of the competition means that they are not likely to be seen as monopolizing sidewalks.

Cortes said: “I believe that sidewalks are sacred, and we need to create technology that interacts with people the best way possible. That’s why we’re using several kinds of robots. This size works for 80 percent of the orders.”

The KiwiBot uses binocular computer vision to navigate around the campus. However, it is also aided by humans who take control if the robot needs help crossing the street or navigating through busy areas.

Cortes thought that Berkeley would be a good place to launch Kiwi because the people were diverse and were friendly to new technology such as the robots.