For the past year, Loyola Marymount University has been using robots to deliver food to students and staff.
But now the company providing the robots, Kiwibot, has upgraded its technology to make self-driving delivery vehicles.
Felipe Chavez, a co-founder and chief executive of Kiwibot, in Miami, said that until now a human had to control the robots to make sure everything was working properly as it made its way around the campus of the Los Angeles university.
“Now that remote intervention is not needed,” Chavez said. “They are fully autonomous.” With 25 self-driving robots, this opportunity helps elevate Loyola Marymount as an innovative institution equipped to provide speedy, affordable, sustainable services to its college community, the company said in a release.
Kiwibot chose the school as its first campus to deploy the autonomous robots because it was one of the first universities to trust the company and open its doors to the technology and the robotics revolution, Chavez said.
“What’s more, we have been warmly welcomed by the community, which has supported us since day one, and together we’ve built a strong and friendly culture between students and robots,” Chavez added.
The autonomous technology that Kiwibot is now using in the Loyola Marymount robots relies on GPS technology and a new autonomy platform with a high-tech satellite solution, which provides high-accuracy locations for self-driving machines, the company’s release said.
The robots also employ data from camera sensors combined with AI techniques to avoid obstacles and leverage a navigation system that generates multi-kilometer routes that make it possible to reach a pre-defined goal, the release added.
Kiwibot’s new autonomy platform makes it the company’s safest and most efficient robot, the release continued.
