“I wanted to see if it would stop,” Osborne told the Justice on April 29.

She intentionally stepped in front of a Kiwibot as it made its way down the main path through campus. On one mid-March day, Hailey Osborne ’23 decided to test the robots’ “high-tech sensors” and “obstacle avoidance process” touted on the Brandeis Kiwibot FAQ page. “I was standing on the left, and the Kiwibot was next to me … the Kiwibot was driving at an angle, so it kind of pushed us off the sidewalk,” she said in an April 29 text correspondence with the Justice. “I was like, ‘I moved over to avoid this happening!’”Įvan Israel ’24 also described an instance where she moved to make way for a Kiwibot but was still bumped. “And there it was, a Kiwibot making an angry face at me!” Landis told the Justice in a May 1 text correspondence. While walking by the library, Landis attempted to move to the side of the sidewalk to make way for a line of Kiwibots behind her when she felt a sharp poke on her heel. Rachel Landis ’23, who describes herself as “pro-Kiwibot,” had a nearly identical, although not as bloody, experience as Timpson. While there is no reported record of serious injury resulting from the Kiwibots, Timpson’s story is not unique, with other students reporting similar incidents. “Among the things that they take into account are the structure features, the roads, the estimated trajectories, and where the dynamic or static objects are located.” “The robots are able to detect traffic lights, people, vehicles, or even other Kiwibots based on that, they make decisions in the path planning and the obstacle avoidance process,” reads a statement on Brandeis’ Kiwibot FAQ page. Kiwibots are semi-autonomous and are able to navigate through a system of camera-related path planning, object detection, and, in certain situations, remote control by human supervisors, many of whom operate out of Kiwibot’s Colombian office in Medellín. My foot was red, and I have a bruise now.” “I kept walking, and I got to the SCC and looked at my foot and it was bleeding a little bit. “I was wearing flats, so when it hit my foot it pulled my shoe down,” Timpson told the Justice on April 30. A Kiwibot - one of a fleet of at least 15 food delivery robots brought to Brandeis by Sodexo - had driven into her foot from behind her. On April 26, Leah Timpson ’22 was walking past Upper Usdan when she felt a sharp, jabbing pain on her heel.

Angry bots camera