PepsiCo and robot startup introduce California college to snack delivery

Transcription

1 PepsiCo and robot startup introduce California college to snack delivery By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 586 Level 1200L Starting this month, students at California's University of the Pacific will be able to order snacks and beverages for the first time from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the Snackbot. Photo by: PepsiCo In one memorable scene from the teen movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Jeff Spicoli has a double cheese and sausage pizza delivered to his classroom. The delivery interrupts Spicoli's fearsome teacher mid-lecture. Spicoli was considered a mischievous airhead for disregarding early-1980s dining etiquette. However, he may actually have been way ahead of his time. More than three decades later, a California campus is embracing a kind of food delivery via robot. Beginning January 2, students at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, were able to satisfy their munchies in a new and novel way. For the first time, they will be able to order snacks and beverages from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the Snackbot. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 1

2 Igloo Cooler On Wheels The Snackbot, which has a stout body and six small wheels, resembles some combination of an Igloo cooler and a Volkswagen Microbus or perhaps a NASA-built vehicle designed for traveling across the surface of the moon. The electric vehicle has a built-in camera and headlights and can travel 20 miles on a single charge, even up hills and in the rain. The new campus delivery program was launched by PepsiCo, which partnered with robot-making startup Robby Technologies. Scott Finlow, a PepsiCo vice president, said the Snackbot taps into two trends among college students. One trend is a growing desire for healthier food, the other is a desire for "on-the-go" snacks, the result of students becoming less inclined to eat three fixed meals each day. "Whether it is outside a dorm room, outside a lecture hall or outside the cafeteria or library, now students will be able to get food delivered to them," Finlow said. He noted that the company will start out with three robots on campus but may increase that number over time. "We worked hard to design something simple that only requires students to download a Snackbot app and plug in their university ." Some Schools Not Fans Of App-Based Delivery Services College students aren't the only ones embracing food delivery services. With the sudden rise of services such as Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash, students of all ages have begun bypassing traditional cafeteria offerings in favor of food delivery apps on their smartphones. With dozens of deliveries arriving on campus each day, one high school was even forced to ban the apps' use on campus. "We had to stop what we're doing, check them in and find the kid whose food it was," Granite Bay High School Principal Jennifer Leighton said in "We're not equipped to deal with that. It's a disruption." She added, "It's not our job to find a kid and make sure he knows his lunch is here." Instead of interrupting classes, the Snackbot will follow a less invasive delivery model, Finlow said. After downloading the Snackbot app and placing an order, students can select from 50 designated delivery locations across the 175-acre campus. The "rolling vending machine" doesn't charge a delivery fee, Finlow noted. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 2

3 A Rolling Vending Machine What's on the Snackbot menu? Finlow said the machine will sell the same items that are found inside PepsiCo's Hello Goodness vending machines. This includes Smartfood Delight, Baked Lay's, SunChips, Pure Leaf Tea, Bubly, LIFEWTR and Starbucks Cold Brew. Users will be able to track their order and open the machine's lid using a button in the app. Meeting the robot at the right time is key. It will only wait at a delivery location for 10 minutes before moving on to its next customer. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 3

4 Quiz 1 Is the author suggesting that the Snackbot has the potential to be highly disruptive in academic settings? Which selection from the article BEST supports your answer? Yes; With dozens of deliveries arriving on campus each day, one high school was even forced to ban the apps' use on campus. Yes; She added, "It's not our job to find a kid and make sure he knows his lunch is here." No; Instead of interrupting classes, the Snackbot will follow a less invasive delivery model, Finlow said. No; It will only wait at a delivery location for 10 minutes before moving on to its next customer. 2 With which statement would Scott Finlow MOST LIKELY agree? Option 1: The Snackbot was created to be a convenient way for students to get "on-the-go" snacks. Option 2: The Snackbot was created with an emphasis on getting students to eat healthier snacks Which sentence from the article supports your response? Option 1; Scott Finlow, a PepsiCo vice president, said the Snackbot taps into two trends among college students. Option 1; "Whether it is outside a dorm room, outside a lecture hall or outside the cafeteria or library, now students will be able to get food delivered to them," Finlow said. Option 2; "We worked hard to design something simple that only requires students to download a Snackbot app and plug in their university ." Option 2; Finlow said the machine will sell the same items that are found inside PepsiCo's Hello Goodness vending machines. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 4

5 3 Why did the author begin the article by describing a scene from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High? to demonstrate that the movie was the inspiration for PepsiCo and Robby Technologies' Snackbot invention to suggest that the Snackbot will lead to interruptions similar to the one caused by Jeff Spicoli in the movie to illustrate some of the ways the Snackbot could be used by students while they are in class to engage the readers on the topic of food delivery in schools by highlighting a comical scene 4 Which of the following statements BEST represents Granite Bay High School's approach to food deliveries? The disturbances caused by the food deliveries led Granite Bay to consider using Snackbots. The decrease in students buying from the school cafeteria led Granite Bay to ban food deliveries. The concern that food deliveries posed a safety risk led Granite Bay to disallow food deliveries. The interruptions caused by food deliveries led Granite Bay to prohibit those services at school. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 5