Talk about your meals on wheels… In Greenwich, South East London, a local resident went to order a meal from her favorite Turkish restaurant, Taksim Meze, from Just Eat, an online food delivery service and quickly became the first customer to have her food delivered by robot. Partnering with Starship Technologies, Just Eat has created the first self-delivering food service.
The six-wheedled pavement droid that delivered the meal is enough to make The Jeston’s Rosie the Robot jealous. According to a new press release, the robot was instructed to arrive at the restaurant while the meal was being prepared. Then the restaurant placed the meal inside the robot’s cargo hold to deliver it to Simone. When the food had arrived, Simone received a text message stating that the meal was ready and waiting for her outside of her door. This was an impressive journey as the little robot had to wait to cross streets and wait for the traffic lights to change on the way to Simone’s home.
Ana Maria Stingaciu, Manager of the Turkish restaurant said, “I am really proud Taksim Meze is the first restaurant to make a takeaway delivery using robot technology. Providing first-rate customer service is our top priority and with this added set of hands, or wheels I should say, we can focus our manpower in the kitchen. I am looking forward to utilizing the technology during the busy festive season to help keep up with demand.”
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the door to find a robot waiting to greet me – it was like something out of a movie. It is really incredible to think that this kind of technology and service is now available. It was very efficient and actually texted me when it pulled up. The only thing I wasn’t sure of is whether or not to tip!”
While not every order by Just Eat is currently being driven out by robot, more and more Greenwich residents will experience the new delivery method as the service and technology continues to grow.
“Our pilot program with Just Eat has now entered a new phase of development. We’re happy the local residents and businesses of Greenwich can start enjoying the benefits of robotic delivery, whilst learning together with Just Eat how to further improve the service moving forward,” says Marketing and Communications Manager at Starship Technologies, Henry Harris-Burland.
Graham Corfield, UK Managing Director at Just Eat, is thrilled with the reception for the robots so far and the initial experiment is not a fluke.
“We are delighted to add robot home delivery to the Just Eat service. We have been working closely with Starship Technologies for many months to ensure that we can seamlessly integrate this exciting technology with our restaurants partners, customers and online booking service. Now that we are live in Greenwich, we’re working towards a larger roll-out of the pilot program across London in the New Year.”
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Headquarted in London, Just Eat is the world’s largest marketplace for online delivery with over 15.5 million active users. Starship Technologies is currently building a “fleet” of autonomous robots designed to deliver food locally within 15-30 minutes in a 2-3 mile radius.
[Featured Image by Tristan Fewings/Just Eat]