Pixie and Pixa, the new food delivery robots created by PHD student Ebtehal Alotaibi, are being integrated into life on King’s campus. Pixie and Pixa (both she/her) will be used to deliver food from the Kings Building’s Café to hungry students across campus.
It is hoped that one day Pixie, Pixa, and their friends could serve all of Edinburgh.
Over 80 per cent of the robot’s volume is dedicated to a deliveroo-backpack-like storage space for food to be safely and warmly stored in transit.
When the droids arrive at their destination, their hatch will open, allowing customers to remove their items, before the robot drives itself back to its hub.
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Speaking to The Student, founder of PixConvey (the company behind Pixie and Pixa), Alotaibi said:
“The next challenge is finding how to integrate our back end system to their traditional uni ordering system.
“There will [also] be the challenge for the infrastructures of the roads. Light Systems. People’s acceptance [of the robots].”
So far Pixie and Pixa have had a warm welcome from King’s campus students, and Alotaibi said that the children at Arcadia nursery are also fans of the droids.
Alotaibi was quick to point out that food prices are 30 per cent higher on delivery apps and PixConvey can cut this with lower costs, saving people money as living costs continue to rise.
Boasting secure delivery, autonomous driving and self disinfection technology, Pixie and Pixa can work for six hours continuously, and only need to be charged twice a day.
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Those likely to feel less favourably towards Pixie and Pixa are the workers that they could replace.
Deliveroo and UberEats riders were on strike as recently as Valentine’s day over poor pay.
Students have worked on the development of Pixie and Pixa, with Alotaibi describing PixConvey as: “not replacing but upskilling the workforce market.”
PixConvey offers internships for students under the PixConvey Partners Programme.
“08a.Robot.Postmates.WDC.25October2017” by Elvert Barnes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
