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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.

18 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 alvinrod · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    5. 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.

    6. 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.

    7. 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.
  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: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.

  4. 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 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.
  5. 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?

  6. 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.

  7. 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