Burrito Delivered by Bot, as Long as Students Don’t Trap It

Can they survive in locations prone to extreme weather events?

Are these robots being regulated in any way? They are using public streets and sidewalks, how is the use of the infrastructure being taxed? Are they capable of getting out of a dumpster? They seem to be a source of free food and batteries. Will the Colombians send hit squads to protect their assists?

I saw this at Berkeley about two months ago. These are cute but subject to homeless people hijacking and robbing them.

I personally would find these little bots kinda annoying. But gimmicks like this eventually lead to genuine life-improving technologies. I look forward to the day when I can get into my car in the evening, lie down, and then wake up 1000 miles away in the morning!

“I generally don’t leave my desk for work”-- Well, this gadget is yet another sly nod to our contemporary society's glorification of constant work. Burrito delivery by way of robot encourages us to embrace and celebrate our own exploitation.

I live a half mile from a small shopping center anchored by a grocery store featuring liquor store, dry cleaners, hair salon, a couple restaurants. It is basically a strip mall under a grade level grocery store made possible because it is on a steep hill. Anyway, I walk to and from there several times a week. Mostly for fresh vegetables. Personally, I feel actually getting outside for a little bit and stretching my legs is a perk not a negative. But whatever, if everyone felt this way these delivery and scooter companies wouldn't be getting any use.

The irony: Goehring-Harris wants to use bots because they don't involve human interaction (plus no tipping!), and yet the bots must still be loaded by human being, rescued by human being, and of course the food itself is cooked by human beings. I guess as long as she doesn't see the human beings, she doesn't have to think about whether or not they are getting a livable wage or being treated, well, humanely.

The evident love affair with anything "tech" seems to have some people giving up a walk to a local eatery or saying "Hi" to those within it. Embracing a robotic delivery system lacks taking a deeper look at replacement by bot "jobs" of much-needed human ones. Also, what about the energy and materials used to manufacture these bots--are they ecologically damaging? What about when these small devices breakdown and aren't repaired but just replaced with a newer one--take a look at the huge piles of autos at scrap yards for a wasteful example. Finally, single-use gizmos rarely add anything to our personal or social needs or economics--we should probably be looking for ways to encourage movement away from our desks, not reasons for staying stuck there.

Ms. Goehring-Harris doesn’t like people-based food deliveries, which she believes can be unhygienic. “Food safety means less human involvement,” she said. Besides the economics work out better. “I don’t tip a robot.” Once again we are reminded how much of this industry is designed by and for people whose social skills and approach to society in general range from awkward to autistic.

Bigger than a breadbasket? I thought it was breadBOX.

I live across the street from UC Berkeley and a block away from the kiwibot space that pretends to manage these cursed machines. These machines perch on the yellow disabled ramps found on all street corners of Berkeley. Altho many now use these ramps (strollers, bikes that are illegally on sidewalks in downtown Berkeley where bikes are not allowed on sidewalks -- neither are the kiwi robots allowed but like so many tech businesses, they just do what they want. . . ), the ramps were originally put in for the disabled. I am disabled, getting around in a power wheelchair and dependent on the ramps. Does NYtimes care that these machines violate Am with Disabilities Act? and impede the lives of the disabled? But these machines perch on the ramps and when I approach within their view (the machine eyes 'blink'), the machine does not move. The machine does not get off the ramp even if I nudge it. So I usually push the machine out of my way. These machines are, at their best, a nuisance and at their worst genuine threats to safety. They have no right to be on our sidewalks and disabled ramps but there they are. They have no right to be on our streets but they are. A photo for this article shows many kiwi robot machines on UC main plaza entrance. I am at that plaza every day and this phoyo is misrepresentation. And how does the NYTimes know that Kiwi has made over 60,000 deliveries? I do not believe this statistic.

As I've said before in this context, "smart" machines will just be victimized by (somewhat) smarter humans. Anyone who has ever seen someone teasing a dog knows what is likely to happen.

So, why do pedestrian have to wait behind flounder robots who are there only there to make a big profit for someone.

The creators of Wall-E definitely got it right about our future society.

Do they deliver insulin, Beta blockers and bed sore meds too?

I’m disgusted by notion that it’s fine to clutter the already crowded social spaces with noisy, distracting bots performing services no one needs. Destroy them all and sue the start up founders.

I feel that when one of these delivery robots encounters another, they should become battle-bots and fight to the death until only one shall survive. I can carry my own sandwich.

move aside grumpers! this is great and i can't wait to see more of it! i was in berkeley last year and saw these bots and they are cool...and guess what, I'm old!

I hope Nuro comes out with a second design of its R2 and names it R2D2.

Just say no! No to bots. No to drones. We must do everything possible to stop these things from taking over. And all of this delivery nonsense needs to stop as well. Buy some groceries make a salad, learn to cook for yourself.

This is just gross. Is this really a problem that needs "disrupting". Maybe Maya Goehring-Harris should get some fresh air and stop breathing the canned air in her office. It's giving her delusions.

Are everyone's legs broken? Is it so much bother to walk across the quad to get lunch? Too much trouble to stop at the drug store on the way home from work to pick up a few things? No order it on Amazon! As Americans get lazier (and fatter) retail is dying, replaced by even worse paying jobs and mountains of packaging waste.

'Ms. Goehring-Harris doesn’t like people-based food deliveries, which she believes can be unhygienic. “Food safety means less human involvement,” she said. Besides the economics work out better. “I don’t tip a robot.”' LOL - What an awesome person

“the size of a proverbial breadbasket” The word the author is looking for is “breadbox”.

"Ms. Goehring-Harris doesn’t like people-based food deliveries, which she believes can be unhygienic. " What? That doesn't make any sense. Are people handing her a sandwich with bare hands?

Maya Goehring-Harris sounds like the epitome of what is wrong with our on-demand culture- unwilling to get out and walk and interface with real people. Ten minutes of walking is good for the body and soul. Avoiding human involvement, as she puts it, is not the way to go.

We had these on the University of Pittsburgh campus but they had to be taken off line for a several weeks. The problem? They blocked the ramp on a sidewalk blocking a woman in a wheelchair who was crossing the street. Supposedly this won't happen again but I'm not impressed with their ability to interact with humans as of yet.

I was there a month or so ago. I dot not see anybody prank a robot. In fact, the students were, if anything, rather affectionate toward them. For instance, I witnessed several instances in which a student assisted a robot. Presumably those stuck robots were operating in autonomous mode. Very interesting that some of this work is being done out of Colombia. Smart, friendly people, with significant aptitude and potential in math, engineering, science. This sort of thing is a very good opportunity for them. Drugs and violence have isolated that nation horribly, for many decades. By the way, the $3,500 price cited here is very high compared to the likely manufacturing cost. Increased competition should bring that price down considerably.

What this article on food delivery robots demonstrates that these far out ideas are now in the early adopter stage. The future is now. We are almost a quarter of the way through this new century. Many of the kids born today will see the 22nd century. Americans need to grow up and start planning this place for the future. If we keep pumping out kids that can barely read or are educated in a 1970s constrict, they will be poor and miserable. No amount of income redistribution schemes will save them. Fix the doggone eduction and retraining systems now. America’s biggest challenge is not religious instruction. It is preparing a society to thrive in the mid-21st century. We haven’t even begun the work.

"'I generally don’t leave my desk for work,' she said. 'All of a sudden, there was a way for my favorite places to bring food to me rather than having to go walk for 10 minutes.' She was so frequently placing orders...that she upgraded to the company’s Prime account...for unlimited use." Next up: robots that come to you to perform heart bypass surgery.

When I was as student at Stony Brook in the early 80s, the Student Union was not located on the academic mall, it was a decent walk depending on where you started from. Nonetheless, I looked forward to the mental and physical break from studying or classes the walk provided to get something to eat. I don't think I would have used this kind of service then or now.

For more info. on these food robots, check out George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. We’ve had them on campus for over a year. They seem pretty efficient getting around campus, but experience difficulty at all the 4- way stop signs.

We have these on my campus, and I can't stand them. They block sidewalks, and they lurch when you try to walk around them. It just seems like such a waste of resources and space, especially since the whole point of a lot of campuses is that they're supposed to be walk-able.

While driving down a busy street in Berkeley, I watched a Kiwibot crossing an inersection (when traffic was stopped I'm happy to add.) This encounter of the high tech kind was creepy and disturbing. We don't let self-driving cars utilize public streets, why is the city of Berkeley allowing the vehicles to use our streets? I'm guessing they don't, but these so called "entrepreneurs" are doing it anyway without permission and at our our expense. I strongly suspect that the same people too lazy to get up from their computers to buy a burrito or slice of pizza are the same ones who cross streets (one the rare occasion they do such a thing) with head bowed and eyes glued to their phone screens.

There's an obvious double-edged sword in Ms Goehring-Harris's (UC Berkley self-proclaimed Kiwibot superuser) reasons for using Kiwibot. Not leaving her desk for lunch, not having to "walk for 10 minutes," avoiding human interaction, and no need to tip (job displacement) are all things that I think we should be trying to hold on to - not jettison. Sure, I respect the convenience factors, but what does KiwiBot contribute to her overall physical and mental health and quality of life? My life goals and priorities are different than hers.

When some AI company launches a new bot, it's pretty common for humans from every walk of life to physically attack the bot: trap it, destroy it, or otherwise do damage to it. If anything stops the nascent bot industry, it will be humans' unlimited desire to destroy, when they think they can get away with it.

The bots use the ramps to cross the street sometimes they get stuck on the ramp rendering the ramp useless. I've seen an elderly woman with a walker blocked by the little kiwi bot in downtown Berkeley. Several pedestrians tried to pick it up and move it out of the way to help her. I have almost tripped over several kiwis. They are a nuisance and I would have to say they are not an integral part of our sidewalks where space is precious.

Two things: 1) It's amazing to me how casually tech people now talk about eliminating people's jobs. 2) I was on the Berkeley campus three weeks ago and saw a few of these robots "in action." One would drive for five feet before stalling out for two minutes at a time. The other was intercepted by a group of small children and they were batting it around like a toy.

I’m reminded of Kurt Vonnegut’s essay about why he didn’t email his writings. In essence, he didn’t want to miss out on the process of printing his manuscript, holding it in his hand and seeing familiar faces on the way to and at the post office. I pray I am never so lazy that I can’t go get my own burrito.

Regarding unmanned local delivery vehicles, Nuro's CEO says “there was a massive market need.” There was and is no "need" for these vehicles. I doubt that there were any people who went without lunch or any other meal because there was no unmanned vehicle to deliver their meals to them. All these vehicles do is take away jobs, decrease human interaction, and give people yet another excuse for not getting off their duffs and going somewhere to eat or buy their lunch.

“I generally don’t leave my desk for work,” she said. “All of a sudden, there was a way for my favorite places to bring food to me rather than having to go walk for 10 minutes.” Nearly everyday I read something about the need to walk (10,000 steps a day!), get away from "the desk", take breaks from screen time, get fresh air etc. And this all makes a ton of sense. I think people suffer from insufficient time management skills. If you can't get up and spend 10 minutes to fetch your burrito, then I suggest don't eat one.

What about the carbon footprint of delivering small items to people who formerly walked to the store? This will become the new normal...using electricity produced by fossil fuels to replace carbon-free leg power? Get a life people. Take a real lunch break and do yourself and the planet a small favor.

Jobs outsourced to machines and other countries, what's to like. Customers too cheap to tip, what's to like.

As a Berkeley student for a few years now - let me just say robots are NOT an integral part of our sidewalks.

This is the last thing the society needs. Less walking and less people to people interaction...sad.. Let the robots work in factories and hospitals, not in a University campus!

I would have been interested to see this story investigate the experiences of the pilots in Colombia, and perspective of the delivery drivers these robots are displacing. I'm willing to bet that by outsourcing the labor to Colombia and increasing the fleet under the pilots' control, the company is able to save on labor costs without needing to make Uber's tenuous argument that its drivers are independent contractors--but what responsibility do companies like these have to the labor pool after the workers have been replaced?