In recent GC news, our university is having some new technological friends join us on campus; although, “fiend” may be a better description for these rowdy robots. New technology is now literally driving straight to our doors. The Kiwibot is supposed to assist in the delivery of food to students around campus. This is great in theory but not very sensible.
Let us look from a more optimistic side before I get into my reasoning as to why their addition to campus is unnecessary. These little bots could very well be useful in assisting students with their food delivery needs.
For example, if a student is sick and stuck in their residence hall, unable to walk across the street to get themself a cup of chicken noodle soup from GC’s beloved on-campus Chick-fil-A, they can just have it delivered straight to their room. Sounds good, right? This is where you say, “Wrong.” The student would still have to get out of bed and use their energy to go down the stairs and outside to find the Kiwibot that contains their food. They are still having to make half the journey, which seems like a lot of effort for someone who is ill.
If the idea behind these bots is for students to not have to travel to get their food, it does not seem as simple as that since students will still have to travel to retrieve the food from the bot.
“I think people are lazy, and they should just walk over and get themselves a bagel if they want one,” said Taylor Justice, a freshman exercise science major.
This is so real, especially coming from someone whose core curriculum is related to people’s health.
GC prides itself on its very walkable campus. It is refreshing to go to a smaller university where it is easy to walk back and forth from classes, the MAX, the residence halls and even the downtown area. All these things are within a couple-minutes walk of each other. It may make sense for larger universities, but for GC, it seems silly to have a robot deliver us food when everything is only a few yards away.
“I think they are going to be run over and vandalized,” said Carson Nelson, a sophomore nursing major. “At my previous university, they were always stuck on the curb or in the way, and a lot of people stopped using them very quickly.”
Not only will the bots negatively affect the promotion of GC’s walkable campus, but it will also negatively affect the bots themselves. They could be defiled by vehicles or people. I can already imagine someone hitching a ride on the back of these machines and further harming the image of bots themselves.
It is also notable that it seems as though GC is trying to modernize a place that prides itself on small-town charm. Milledgeville is a very historic city with so much beautiful architecture. It was one of the first things I noticed when I toured GC. I loved the small-town feel and beautiful scenery all around.
According to a recent article published by University Magazine, GC was named one of the best and most picturesque campuses in Georgia and was noted for its historic and classic southern architecture. These bots running around our campus take away from the sweet, southern charm that makes GC so appealing to both students and outside admirers.
