Robots to deliver food and library books around Cranfield University campus in UK first

We’ve gotten used to seeing robots out and about delivering shopping but now the campus at Cranfield University will become a testing ground for them too.

Thanks to a collaboration with Peyk – an autonomous delivery robot manufacturer – they’ll soon be seen a lifeline for students in a UK first for on-campus last-mile robotic deliveries.

Trials of the PeykBot – a flexible peer-to-peer robot – will take place in spring and tie into a student group project to enable those studying robotics to get industry-relevant experience.

With Cranfield as a UK university campus testing ground, it’s expected the robots will be used in the future for mail deliveries, food deliveries and sending goods and library books around campus. The peer-to-peer system means the robots can be hired and controlled by individuals, giving more flexibility to the service. The PeykBot is also able to climb kerbs and has a modular system which means different size and function boxes can be attached to the main robot body.

Researchers and students in Cranfield’s Centre for Robotics and Assembly will be helping Peyk engineers with the campus trials, collecting data, optimising the operation of the robots and helping to develop the technology and mechanics of the vehicles. The students’ work will help to fine-tune the robots for rollouts to other UK university campuses.

Gilbert Tang, senior lecturer in robotics, said: “With delivery robots becoming a more common sight on UK pavements, we’re delighted to be the first university campus to roll out this kind of service to our students and staff. This is also a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn directly from a robotics company and apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios.”

Salman Moghimi, founder and CEO of Peyk, said: “We are super proud to have a partner like Cranfield to be the first in the UK to deploy in campus robotic deliveries. This collaboration also enables the students to have a hands-on experience on real operational robots as well as potentially creating unique post study job opportunities.”