In today’s campus culture, parents are often understandably concerned about whether their children will obtain a quality education. Engineering students at one university, however, have demonstrated their diligence and shown that their potential for future contributions to society is immense.
Kiwi is a food delivery business set up at UC Berkeley that uses a robot, called a KiwiBot, to transport the products to customers. Meals are picked up from restaurants and loaded onto the robots, which then independently carry the items 200 meters to consumers. According to their website, the average shipping time is 27 minutes. Also, they boast a quality rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
As reported by Berkeley News, Colombian native Felipe Chavez traveled to UC Berkeley to recruit engineering students to help develop the company. The talented pupils invented various types of KiwiBots that have six fully integrated Ultra HD cameras and a 250-degree field of vision. The equipment enables the machines to cross streets and navigate obstacles safely; using the same type of technology as self-driving vehicles.
Although Kiwi currently only operates in Berkeley, California, the company plans to expand to numerous other cities in the state by the end of the year.
Innovation
Chavez predicts a bright future for his brand of automated delivery:
“With our multimodal system in place, we foresee a world in which a meal, package or good can be delivered fast and cheap – anywhere – anytime.”
There is certainly demand for food and other packages delivered straight to the customer’s door, particularly among millennials. The restaurant industry reels in over $782 billion in revenue per year since 2016, as found by Statista, a market research and business intelligence portal. Between 10 and 20% of Americans use food delivery services, such as GrubHub and Uber Eats, at least once per week.
The investment firm Coven reports that such providers took in $43 billion in 2017 and the industry is expected to rise by 12% over the next five years. Kiwi differs from its competitors in that fewer employees are necessary, and thus less financial overhead is expended.
The Way of the Future
Many are concerned that artificial intelligence will result in thousands of jobs lost. Is this a legitimate fear? According to Liberty Nation’s Andrew Moran, the answer is no:
“Before automation, 99% of the population lived and worked on farms. Automation took away 99% of those jobs. But are we worse off for it? Of course we aren’t. Humans were freed to innovate, pursue jobs they find interesting and improve their standard of living.”
Our country’s youth will develop the future of technology, which will further enable citizens to enhance society with their creative skills. Furthermore, with artificial intelligence reducing the costs of labor, the price of services will be decreased, which means more money in the pockets of Americans.
Consumers will decide the success of Kiwi and other technology-driven businesses. The dedication from these engineering students evidences the beauty of the American Dream to pursue individual passions and progress the nation.
