#byeDave: Wichita State campus mourning sudden exit of adorable robot friends
They didn’t even have time to bid little Dave a proper farewell.
One day, the little food-delivery robot was rolling toward another hungry student at Wichita State University. The next he was just. . . gone.
If you’ve driven through the WSU campus during the past three years, you may have caught a glimpse of Dave. He and his identical six-wheeled siblings arrived on campus in the fall of 2023, a collection of suitcase-sized robots who could pick up food orders from on-campus eateries like Starbucks or Freddy’s then, within a matter of minutes, roll them to on-campus diners.
WSU affectionately nicknamed its robots Dave, and the little guys — affixed with orange safety flags on poles — gave off an air of adorable determination that would cause passersby who spotted them to stop and point. Watching Dave wobble down an uneven sidewalk or stop at a crosswalk and wait for cars to pass was a particular highlight.
But in early June, Dave’s creator — Starship Technologies — announced on its website that it was winding down its operations on U.S. college campuses and would focus on deliveries from retail grocery chains in cities across Europe and the United States. The program had been active on more than 60 college campuses, and institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Notre Dame and Purdue are also mourning their robots.
Dave’s departure from WSU was rather abrupt, said Jamie Kraisinger, who is Chartwells Higher Ed’s senior director of dining services at WSU.
“Unfortunately, Chartwells was informed that the robot program was being concluded on the Starship side at all college campuses, and with(in) less than a few hours of that, our robots were picked up,” she said.
Members of the campus community were stricken to hear of Dave’s exit and said so in the comments on WSU Dining’s Facebook post sharing the news.
“Cute little dude was a hero!” one person wrote.
“NOT DAVE,” said another.
“So sad! R.i.p Dave.” said another.
Though the Daves will be impossible to replace, Kraisinger said that Chartwells Higher Ed will try. WSU students who return to a Dave-less campus this fall should still be able to get food delivered.
“We are actively looking for an alternative option and should be able to release an alternative soon,” Kraisinger said.
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