University of Tennessee has a fleet of new (even cuter) food robots
Keenan ThomasKnoxville News Sentinel
Aug. 21, 2026, 4:58 a.m. ET
The cute robots whirring around the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus are about to get even cuter as a new company takes over the automated food delivery service
Avride, a company from Austin, Texas, is launching fleets onto 25 university campuses, including UT, to have more than 1,000 active robots around the country. The new autonomous delivery robots are rolling out now, according to a press release from the company
The new robots will replace the original fleet from Starship, which announced in June it was scaling back its campus delivery operations to focus more on grocery store and food delivery in cities
The new robots have a sleek design with a screen on the front that can emote with eyes or display images. Otherwise, they look pretty similar to the Starship robots that have been on campus for years
Avride boasts that 99% of deliveries have been completed without the aid of humans, and the robots are built for the hustle and bustle of universities, according to a press release
Students can order food through Grubhub to have their meals carefully delivered by Avride robots
UT representatives could not be reached for comment. The Knoxville City Council voted in April 2024 to prohibit personal delivery robots from operating in the city, but the decision did not affect UT as the campus streets and sidewalks are regulated by the state
Keenan Thomas is the higher education reporter for Knox News. Email: keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com
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