Delivery

Philly airport piloting robotic food delivery

Photo provided.

February 25, 2021

The contactless food ordering program at Philadelphia International Airport is piloting a robotic strategy with a gita (a robot featuring visual sensors) that is delivering food orders to customers using the airport's OrderAtPHL.com program.

The pilot kicked off this week and will run through April, according to an airport news announcement. The gita can carry up to 40 pounds in its cargo bin and guests open the bin to access their items.

"Now more than ever we are looking to be forward-thinking and innovative regarding our contactless ordering options," Megan O'Connell, PHL Food & Shops marketing and customer service manager, said in the announcement. "Gita allows our guests to customize their experience by choosing how much or how little human interaction they want when having their food delivered. We are thrilled to offer this feature as part of the seamless contactless ordering experience at PHL."

The gita is accompanied by an AtYourGate representative as it delivers food orders. It was developed by Piaggio Fast Forward and it has been piloted at several other U.S. airports.

Last fall PHL Food & Shops was the first U.S. airport program to launch an integrated meal delivery service for passengers using the Grab mobile ordering platform and AtYourGate delivery service. Passengers can order food and merchandise from several airport concessions by visiting orderatphl.com or the Grab app from a mobile device and an AtYourGate team member delivers the items to the passengers within the airport.

"We think passengers and employees will be pleasantly surprised to see their AtYourGate delivery being handled by a robot," O'Connell said in the announcement. "At the end of the pilot, we will look at feedback from customers and from the AtYourGate team members working with the gita to better understand how we can utilize Gita in the future."