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Pepsi Is Testing a Snack Delivery Robot On Select College Campuses (hothardware.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the dreams-do-come-true dept.

MojoKid writes: College students used to have to fend for themselves at the campus convenient store but soon may have the snacks coming to them courtesy of a new delivery service. The PepsiCo Hello Goodness Snackbot, an autonomous delivery robot, will now run snacks around select college campuses to satiate whatever case of the munchies it can. Students, staff, and faculty at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California can now order snacks between 9AM and 5PM through the Snackbot app, which is currently only available on iOS. The robot will deliver goods at 50 designated Snackbot areas across campuses. The delivery bot can go more than 20 miles on a single charge and includes a camera, headlights, and all-wheel drive to help it navigate through tough terrain if need be. The Snackbots are part of the company's goal of expanding the reach of their healthier product lines to 50,000 points of presence by the end of 2019.

45 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. What am I missing here? by DethLok · · Score: 4, Informative

    If they want a snack, don't students just reach for their selection of snacks that they've previously purchased and stored?
    Because I suspect that the snacks delivered by a robot are not likely to be as cheap as snacks purchased on a shopping trip at the cheap place down the road a bit...
    And when I was a student, money was important as I didn't have any!
    so... what am I missing here?
    Are modern students so flush with cash and so poor with planning that they find it easier to order snacks when they're feeling peckish?

    1. Re: What am I missing here? by Jeremi · · Score: 2

      Youâ(TM)re not missing anything except the fact that students didnâ(TM)t ask for this service. Itâ(TM)s being pushed by Pepsi (as an experiment and/or publicity stunt), not demanded by anyone. Most likely it will go away after the experiment yields the likely results (ie that itâ(TM)s easier to just bring snacks with you than summon a robot)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:What am I missing here? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2

      so... what am I missing here?

      A) That generalizing from your singular experience is generally a bad idea.

      B) Not all college students are good planners, nor are all college students poor.

    3. Re:What am I missing here? by Dusanyu · · Score: 3, Informative

      I recall when I was a Student my dorm as most academic halls had these things that have been around forever, called coin operated machines. serenely these old time devices have to be more covenant than waiting at a Select spot for a robot to show up. granted robotic a cooler on wheels is cool but coinop just works. Unless your an idiot who tries to shake one.

    4. Re:What am I missing here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They're probably testing how it will be abused. It has cameras, why wouldn't you try to cover the cameras? The lid opens, why wouldn't you grab all of the inventory or take a dump in it? It has wheels, why not lift it off the ground so it can't escape? It has a wireless internet connection, why not subvert the signal?

    5. Re:What am I missing here? by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They'd probably have more interest and make more money if they got the thing to deliver weed instead.

    6. Re:What am I missing here? by DethLok · · Score: 1

      Some of the responses to my response are ... worrying!!

    7. Re:What am I missing here? by DethLok · · Score: 1

      ...
      And probably a LOT more theft . . .

      Possibly because the USA doesn't have Tim Tams, I understand?

    8. Re:What am I missing here? by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Had to insert this Judge Dredd clip here.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    9. Re:What am I missing here? by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 2

      C) Some college students make poor financial decisions especially when they have the munchies.

    10. Re:What am I missing here? by DethLok · · Score: 1

      I do like Dredd.

      Been reading about Megacity One since... well, before my friends/siblings kids (some now adult & breeding) were born.

      I like all the movies, too, they've captured, fairly well and certainly better than I expected, some of the aspects that make Dredd Dredd.

    11. Re:What am I missing here? by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      I recall when I was a Student my dorm as most academic halls had these things that have been around forever, called coin-operated machines.

      Times are changing. Some high schools and Universities are forcing vending machines to stock unpopular healthy foods in them, resulting in lower sales.

      This would be the perfect workaround for those locations. In addition to that, they could probably skip giving the school a cut of their profit since they wouldn't be renting their space anymore.

    12. Re: What am I missing here? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Why can't slashdot support modern character encoding? Is it some because they're stupid or lazy?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    13. Re:What am I missing here? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that Android is cheap crap for the homeless.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    14. Re: What am I missing here? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      Most likely it will go away after the experiment yields the likely results (ie that itâ(TM)s easier to just bring snacks with you than summon a robot)

      Ad well, the life expectancy of the robot is nil. Between drunk kids having fun and nerds using the robots as parts sources - this isn't going to end well.

      The poor robots - kidnapped and forced to fight like gladiators in duels to the death.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    15. Re: What am I missing here? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Thankâ(TM)s forâ(TM) tâ(TM)he explâ(TM)anation!

  2. Vending Machine? by tbq · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The robot will deliver goods at 50 designated Snackbot areas across campuses.

    How is this better than the dozens of vending machines already all over campus? If it's not going to actually bring me my junk food, how is it an improvement? The difference is that with the bot I have to pick what I want in the app, go to the designated location, and then wait for the bot to show up with my order.

    1. Re:Vending Machine? by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      It's probably worse. If you just have vending machines, at least you have to walk to the damned thing. You probably need the short break from whatever you're working on anyway.

    2. Re:Vending Machine? by sheramil · · Score: 3, Funny

      Perhaps the snackbots could be programmed to dangle the snacks just out of their reach, and then take them on a run around campus until the sugar content of the snack has been worked off.

    3. Re:Vending Machine? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      They're selling chips, not carrots.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  3. between 9AM and 5PM by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    Clearly, they have no idea about when people want snacks.

    I'd like to order a 2 liter diet coke please SnackBot.

    1. Re:between 9AM and 5PM by tquasar · · Score: 1

      Uh, wouldn't students be in class at that time?

    2. Re:between 9AM and 5PM by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      I misread TFS as saying "9 PM to 5 AM". Thanks for pointing that out to me.

      (They could have said "0900 to 1700" like most of the rest of the world does. But that—like remembering that 0 C is freezing and 100 C is boiling—is just too hard for some people.)

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    3. Re:between 9AM and 5PM by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      9PM to 5PM would be 21:00 to 05:00 but apart from that I agree. A smal nit pic 0C to 100C is only valid for water when the atmosphere around it is at a pressure of 101.325 kPa at ote presures the poilingpoint can vary quit a bit but I'm going ot here sorry about that. Hiovever i agtree that celsius makes quite a lot more sence than Farenheit ad it allso makes converting to kelvin used in most calculations a lot easier

    4. Re:between 9AM and 5PM by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      "Pepsi OK?"

      Sure, as long as this cryptocurrency I just invented is OK.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Re:App Store required by Jason1729 · · Score: 2

    The app store takes 30% of the gross, not the profits. It's hard for anyone to make profits when you lose 30% of your top line.

  5. Just like those scooters by DatbeDank · · Score: 1

    I predict this robot will be abused heavily by drunk college students.

    Sorry corporations, robots will be vandalized and disabled before you think you can replace humans with machines.

    Same goes for automated cars and trucks. You think the teamsters are going to let self driving trucks take over their jobs in the future? They'll be out in BFE destroying these things. And trust me, the state police aren't going to rush to the aide of an unmanned vehicle in anytime to catch the crooks.

    1. Re:Just like those scooters by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      No kidding. College campuses have pranksters galore. I should know; I pulled a couple back in my day.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  6. In America... by arielCo · · Score: 1

    ...calories chase you!

    --
    This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
  7. Having solved all of humanitys' problems.. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    ..our technological wizards turn their attention to this.

    ..and you people wonder why it is our planet and species is shunned so thoroughly by the interstellar community that we can't even be sure they exist.

    1. Re:Having solved all of humanitys' problems.. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Ricky, have you been sniffing your own farts again? You honestly believe that aliens shun us because we build a robot that delivers snacks to college students? This makes no sense on any level.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    2. Re:Having solved all of humanitys' problems.. by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      He's offering an example, not positing a root cause. Have you been drinking again?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    3. Re:Having solved all of humanitys' problems.. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Come to think of it last night I was a little buzzed.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    4. Re:Having solved all of humanitys' problems.. by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

      Oh, not because of a college snack robot, but because of how ridiculous the idea of sentient meat making machines.
      Who wants to talk to meat?

      http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
  8. Re:App Store required by Desler · · Score: 1

    Not really. People made plenty of profts paying a much higher margin for physical retail distribution. Software companies a couple decades ago would have killed to only have to pay 30% from gross.

  9. So, when will it get hacked? by wierd_w · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This *IS* a robot, and it has a simplified set of parameters for thinking it has been paid...

    And these ARE college kids, who are notoriously both 1) Broke as shit, and 2) Have more time than sense, and-- presumably 3) Desire snack food.

    If they push this thing in a college with a healthy CompSci department, how long do you think it would take for there to be an impromptu hack-a-thon on this thing?

  10. Just what we need by CptJeanLuc · · Score: 2

    The world is fighting unhealthy eating habits and obesity epidemics. Meanwhile Pepsi is working hard to find new ways to sneak addictive empty calories into your body.

    1. Re:Just what we need by philmarcracken · · Score: 1

      Food is not addictive. Nobody is forcing people to overeat. If you're fat as an adult with education on kcal, its your fault, not the food companies.

    2. Re:Just what we need by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      "Food is not addictive."

      Food can be very habit forming.

      "Nobody is forcing people to overeat."

      A lot of people, from parents to corporations, are insisting people over eat.

      "If you're fat as an adult with education on kcal, its your fault, not the food companies."

      Fault isn't always an either or. Especially in social species.

    3. Re:Just what we need by philmarcracken · · Score: 1

      Food can be very habit forming.

      Glad we agree its not addictive.

      A lot of people, from parents to corporations, are insisting people over eat.

      Overfeeding should be considered child abuse and corporations wanting you to keep buying their food is an incredibly poor excuse.

      Fault isn't always an either or. Especially in social species.

      No, in this case, if people are well educated they understand exactly what happens. If you consume past your TDEE, the excess kcal is stored as fat. There is no argument here, that situation is fixed. You overeat it, you wear it.

    4. Re:Just what we need by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      Glad we agree its not addictive

      I don't think word choice matters very much in the OPs point, be it addiction, habit forming, dependence, cravings, or psychological addiction, but there still is reasonable support for the involvement of a biological mechanism:

      https://www.princeton.edu/news...

      https://pr.princeton.edu/news/...

      Overfeeding should be considered child abuse and corporations wanting you to keep buying their food is an incredibly poor excuse.

      Possibly but still a lot of people, from parents to corporations, are encouraging people to over eat.

      No, in this case, if people are well educated they understand exactly what happens. If you consume past your TDEE, the excess kcal is stored as fat. There is no argument here, that situation is fixed. You overeat it, you wear it.

      I'm not sure what you mean by well educated or what the percentage of the population you think that represents, or if we can make such clear distinctions between those that are and those that aren't. But anyway, my point was that especially in social species when an individual's behavior seems to go against an individual's wishes and what appears to be the psychological mechanics or logic of the situation, then it's more than fair to consider things like culture, addiction, and genetics.

  11. I'm curious by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    If someone see one of these, check something for me? Turn it over and look underneath to see if it's made by "Buy-N-Large" corporation.

    Thanks.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  12. Alternate Goal by raftpeople · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing this is step 1 to work out the glitches and then move into higher value items, or generalized in-city delivery.

  13. 9-5? by nasch · · Score: 1

    Between 9am and 5pm, really? That's when college students are up and around campus anyway (OK not all of them by 9 but you get the idea). This service might actually see some use if it operated between 7pm and 3am. Why only run a robot during the day? Is it going back to home base where a tech checks on it regularly or something?

    Also from the story:

    Matt Camino, Director of e-Commerce at University of the Pacific, remarked, "This innovative technology from PepsiCo is enhancing campus life for our students, staff, and faculty alike, who have embraced this new way of snacking from PepsiCo."

    Does he have a job lined up with Pepsi or something?

  14. Black Mirror episode? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    Is this reality, or Black Mirror episode?

    I keep getting them confused.