A popular video online showed a University of Louisiana at Lafayette maintenance truck turning right onto Rex St. from E St. Mary Blvd. and striking a Kiwibot that was crossing the street. The bot flipped over from the impact, but was not run over by the truck. Behind the camera, the recorder jokingly said, “I just witnessed a murder.”
The in-person reaction to the collision and the overall student response to it proved students noticed and cared for the four-wheeled robots that are constantly bustling around campus. In rain, sleet or snow, a UL Lafayette student can count on a Kiwibot to be somewhere rolling around campus.
The delivery robots first came in January 2023 and have since become a noticeable part of the campus culture. Franklin Caldwell, a sophomore majoring in business management, described his feelings towards the Kiwibots,
“Man, I feel like they cool people, bro. They some chill bots, … I just always see them around campus.”
Reacting to the video of the Kiwibot being run over, Caldwell said the incident was a tragedy. “I always speak to the bots… if I’m passing them up, or they passing me… If I don’t feel like speaking, I wave, you know what I’m saying? They always squinting, you know. Yeah. But overall, it was real tragic.”
Treylon Leonard, a junior majoring in business studies, said he laughed when he saw the video, but overall it was a little sad watching the bot get run over.
Abbigale Landry, a freshman majoring in industrial design, said if she did live on campus she would use the Kiwibot service at least once. “I want to know how it works. I keep looking for somebody who has done it because I’m intrigued on how it works.”
The Kiwibots are owned and created by a Columbian owned startup named Kiwi Campus, or Kiwi. The company started in 2017, delivering food in Berkeley, California, and on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, California.
The Bots have six cameras and binocular vision for navigation and hazard avoidance. Through their programming, the Bots are able to stay centered on the sidewalk and roll on their own, making them largely autonomous. In riskier scenarios, like crossing the street, human operators at the company’s center in Medellín, Columbia, monitor their progress at waypoints and take control when needed.
They use artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence that uses statistical data so the bot can perform tasks without explicit instructions. For example, the bots can modify their speed on sidewalks depending on the proximity of people.
Beyond their convenience, the Kiwibots have become a key part of campus culture. One noticeable detail about them is their changing eyes that indicate different emotions, an intentional choice made by its designers.
In a blog on the Kiwibot website, Alejandro Otálora, the director of Product Design at Kiwibot, said the intention in giving the them emotion is “to connect more with our target audiences, so that they feel us as a close brand and adopt the delivery bot as part of their lives and as a member of their community.”
This intentional choice is working on UL Lafayette’s campus. Landry noted that she tries not to personify the robots, but still finds it hard. “I want to think of them as just robots and then I see their eyes change, and then they feel like people,” she said.
Similarly, Leonard said he feels like the Bots are a part of campus. “I mean, I’ve seen them a lot around campus so far, so… they are essentially a part of UL now.”
To use the Kiwibot delivery service, download the Grubhub app and place your order from campus restaurants such as Chick-fil-A or McAlisters. According to Grubhub, robot delivery is found on more than 20 college campuses.
When ordering, students can use various forms of payment, including declining balance, credit card and other mobile payment methods.
The bots deliver to every residential and academic building on the University’s main campus.
They do not go into buildings, so orders will have to be picked up outside. Athletic facilities are not included in delivery locations.
Any student can order from the bots, as long as they are on campus at the time of delivery.