California campus experimenting with vending machine on wheels By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.11.19 Word Count 557 Level 1030L 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 classic scene from the teen movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Jeff Spicoli has a pizza delivered to his classroom. The delivery interrupts Spicoli's fearsome teacher mid-lecture. Spicoli was considered a mischievous airhead for pulling his pizza-delivery stunt. However, he may actually have been way ahead of his time. More than three decades later, a California school is introducing a kind of on-campus food delivery via robot. Beginning January 2, students at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, were able to satisfy their munchies in an unusual way. For the first time, they will be able to order snacks and drinks from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the Snackbot. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1
Snackbot Begins Campus Rounds The electric Snackbot has a stout body and six small wheels. It 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. It 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 is a growing desire for healthier food. The other is a desire for "on-the-go" snacks, now that many students are becoming less inclined to eat three sitdown 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," he said. The new delivery service "only requires students to download a Snackbot app and plug in their university email." One High School Has Banned Grubhub Delivery College students aren't the only ones turning to food delivery services. Students of all ages have begun bypassing traditional cafeteria offerings in favor of food delivery apps on their smartphones. One high school was even forced to ban food delivery 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 2017. "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." The Snackbot will be less disruptive, Finlow said. After placing an order, students can select from 50 delivery locations across the 175-acre campus. They then meet the robot at the pre-arranged spot. The "rolling vending machine" doesn't charge a delivery fee, Finlow noted. Vending Machine Menu 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. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2
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 https://newsela.com. 3
Quiz 1 Which section of the article BEST explains why the Snackbot was created? (A) Introduction [paragraphs 1-3] "Snackbot Begins Campus Rounds" "One High School Has Banned Grubhub Delivery" "Vending Machine Menu" 2 Read the following sentences from the article. 1. For the first time, they will be able to order snacks and drinks from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the Snackbot. 2. It has a built-in camera and headlights, and can travel 20 miles on a single charge, even up hills and in the rain. 3. The new delivery service "only requires students to download a Snackbot app and plug in their university email." 4. The "rolling vending machine" doesn't charge a delivery fee, Finlow noted. Which two sentences taken together provide the BEST evidence to support the idea that the Snackbot makes getting snacks convenient for students? (A) 1 and 2 1 and 3 2 and 4 3 and 4 This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4
3 Which of the following MOST influenced Granite Bay High School to ban food delivery to the school? (A) the disturbance caused when school officials' work was interrupted to receive orders and track down students the concern that traditional cafeteria food would be replaced and the school would lose a big source of income the reduced attention during class because students were using their smartphones when they should have been listening the fear that having food delivered by strangers would cause safety issues and put students at risk 4 How does customer tardiness affect the Snackbot s delivery schedule? (A) The Snackbot alerts customers through the app, so customer tardiness rarely has an effect on the schedule. The Snackbot lets customers track their order, so it will move on to the next customer immediately if the first one is not there. The Snackbot will wait until the customer arrives, which often causes the next customer to receive their snack late. The Snackbot is programmed to leave after a certain time so that it can get to the next customer in a timely manner. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5