A total of 50 Yandex.Rovers, Yandex’ line of delivery robots, have been launched at the Ohio State University campus in cooperation with American food delivery service Grubhub. The robots will deliver food to more than 60 thousand customers from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Students can request robots to deliver food to every residence hall on campus as well as Thompson Library and Bricker Hall.

Self-driving units move along sidewalks and pedestrian zones at a speed of 5-8 km/h (3-5 mi/h). Starting from the fall semester of 2021, Yandex and Grubhub plan to bring the robots to around 250 American campuses.

“We’re excited to bring this cutting-edge and efficient delivery experience to students at The Ohio State University,” Brian Madigan, the Vice President of Corporate and Campus Partners at Grubhub, said. “OSU and Grubhub have worked together for years to offer students a variety of ways to enjoy the food they love on campus. Now we’re building on our efforts to enhance the dining experience through Yandex’s rover technology for quicker and easier deliveries.”

Yandex.Rover robots have been functioning in Russian cities since last year. Around 100 units make several hundred deliveries a day.

In July 2021, Yandex announced the plans to launch food delivery robots in US colleges as part of Grubhub’s campus delivery program during the 2021 fall semester.