The COVID-19 pandemic has unraveled the food supply chain across the world. Nations are struggling to take care of the bare essentials of its citizens. As the food supply chain gets disrupted, the populations most likely to suffer are those with the least resources. Detroit is an urban area with a significant population with food security issues. These food security issues need to be addressed in a safe and hygienic manner.
Purpose
Project: Robotic Soup Kitchen
We are working on establishing a robotic soup kitchen in Detroit, which will dispense essentials like food with zero to minimum human touch. This robotic drive-through system is designed to distribute essentials to citizens at community-scale. We also intend to create a similar distribution center for essentials like toilet paper, female hygiene products, hand sanitizer, etc. The system design also includes the design of the end-user app, the order management system as well as algorithms for preventing hoarding, price-gouging, and potential welfare fraud. As part of this initiative, we are bringing to bear our deep expertise in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence to bring forth solutions that will result in a more hygienic, equitable and sustainable distribution of food and essentials.
Status
- Completed design, simulation and validation of a robotic drive-through system.
- Forthcoming Research: “Drive Through Robotics: Robotic Automation for Last Mile Distribution of Food and Essentials During Pandemics.”
- Working with implementation partners to set up distribution in Detroit.
- Roles open: Research fellow, Industry outreach fellow, Grant writer, Robotics Engineer, AI Engineer, Industrial Engineer, Computer Science Fellow.