SEMO students can now get robot-delivered meals from popular campus restaurants

Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas and Rowdy the Redhawk show off one of the university's new Starship food delivery robots.

Courtesy of Southeast Missouri State University

To increase convenience for students dining on campus, Southeast Missouri State University is launching a robot food delivery service through a partnership between SEMO Dining and Starship Technologies.

Using the Starship app, the robots will deliver food from multiple campus locations, including Panda Express, Starbucks, Rowdy’s, Subway and Redhawks Market — aside from Chick-fil-A. Starship’s delivery system works in conjunction with Flex Dollars and Redbucks.

After choosing their food and drink on the app, patrons will be asked to drop a pin where they want the delivery to be made. Upon arrival, a notification will be sent and the robot can be unlocked through the app.

Starship currently provides robot delivery services to 50 colleges in the United States, with each school increasing the number of robots, dining options and hours of operation to meet demand.

“We’ve seen great success with Starship delivery at other campuses, and we’re excited to bring this convenience to SEMO students,” Chartwells resident district manager Matthew Ludwig said in a news release.

Throughout the first week of classes, SEMO will host two giveaways. Students, faculty and staff who place an order automatically participate in the Lucky Bot Giveaway, which will equip random robots on campus with a “special gift” to go along with random orders. Patrons can also post a photo of their delivery to Instagram and tag @semissouristate, @semodining and @starshiprobots to enter the Starship Instagram Giveaway.