Starship Technologies has withdrawn its tiny, white food delivery robots from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus alongside other universities in the United States, the company announced early June.
The robot delivery company, based in Estonia and San Francisco, said they reduced their campus operations to focus on retail grocery chains and hot food delivery in cities across Europe and the United States.
“Starship has worked closely with all of its university campuses and industry partners to ensure continuity of service through the back-to-school 2026-2027 season, with transition plans in place to minimise disruption for campus communities,” the announcement said.
As part of the transition, over 1,200 robots originally operating on college campuses will be moved to support grocery retailers across Europe and the U.S.
Thirty robots first descended onto UW-Madison’s campus in 2019, when the university launched their partnership with Starship. Their most recent count is 13, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
“The robots adapted well to our campus and provided a valuable service for our customers,” Brendon Dybdahl, a University Housing spokesperson, told The Daily Cardinal. “Their service helped us showcase new technologies and added convenience to our dining program, and the robots became a fun part of the UW-Madison community.”
The Starship robots helped with food accessibility for students, particularly during the pandemic when the university had to navigate keeping students fed while practicing social distancing.
“At the height of the service, during the pandemic, we commonly saw 300-400 deliveries per day,” Dybdahl said. “In recent years, particularly after our resident dining plan structure changed to a meal swipes model, we were down to 20-30 deliveries per day.”
Before the meal swipes model, UW-Madison would have students pay as they ate at dining places.
Over the past seven years, UW-Madison students have summoned meals and late-night snacks alike with the food robots, placing their orders on the Starship Deliveries app. Starting in 2024, the robots delivered Meal Exchanges as well, most often from the campus convenience store Flamingo Run.
Dybdahl said University Housing is currently exploring alternatives for food delivery services.
“We’ll miss seeing the robots around our campus, but we’re grateful for what Starship brought to our dining program,” he said. “University Housing is always looking for new ideas and ways to enhance our dining service, and we learned a lot through this partnership that we can use to keep innovating in the future.”
