Driving alongside cars and 

bikes at 15 mph, Refraction AI’s 
autonomous robot, REV-1, is 
making food deliveries for four 
Ann Arbor restaurants and The 
Produce Station. The deliveries 
reach about 500 customers who 
order their food and groceries 
through an app after signing up 
for a pilot program on Refrac-
tion AI’s website. 

Refraction AI, based in Ann 

Arbor, 
was 
co-founded 
by 

Matthew 
Johnson-Roberson, 

associate professor of naval 
architecture and marine engi-
neering, and Ram Vasudevan, 
assistant professor of mechani-
cal engineering, with the goal of 
creating an autonomous vehicle 
that could be used on a wide 
scale. The start-up currently has 
17 full-time employees and eight 
autonomous vehicles.

REV-1 uses ultrasound waves 

to navigate its deliveries and is 
equipped with 12 cameras to 
ensure the safety of pedestrians 
and the robot while it makes its 
deliveries. Employees are able to 
work from home but are able to 
take over the motion of the robot 
in case of malfunction.

According to Johnson-Rober-

son, the robot delivery service 
is just what people need during 
this pandemic when access to 
food and groceries without con-
tact is essential.

“People are excited about con-

tactless delivery,” Johnson-Rob-
erson said. “They don’t want to 
leave their house and this (is) a 
way they can avoid it.” 

Jeremy Seaver, owner of Tios 

Mexican Cafe, one of the four 
restaurants currently using the 
robot delivery service, finds the 
delivery service extremely help-
ful during COVID-19 as it makes 
deliveries easier for his restau-
rant.

Seaver was optimistic about 

the robot delivery service’s suc-
cess post-pandemic. He said he 

believes it eradicates the strug-
gle restaurants face in staffing 
delivery drivers due to the pres-
ence of delivery services like 
Grubhub and Doordash. 

“It’s the most ideal thing pos-

sible. It’s completely contact-
less,” Seaver said. “I think this 
is a great way to do delivery. 
I would love to switch to only 
using the robots.”

In a typical robot-delivered 

order, customers place orders 
through Refraction AI’s app and 
the restaurant is notified. The 
restaurant then processes the 
order and receives a notification 
of the arrival of the robot. After 
the robot is unlocked by input-
ting a code, the order is then 
loaded into hot bags. The robot 
is locked again and then sent to 
make the delivery.

According to Johnson-Rober-

son, Refraction AI’s robot deliv-
ery service is more appealing to 
restaurant owners because it is 
cost-effective. While services 
like Grubhub and Doordash 
charge restaurants about 30-35 
percent of the restaurant’s cut, 
Refraction AI only charges 15 
percent. The service is also 
especially appealing to restau-
rants during COVID-19 as it 
reduces the number of people 
involved in the delivery process.

“One less person means one 

less risk, one less challenge,” 
Johnson-Roberson said.

In 
addition 
to 
restaurant 

delivery, robots also deliver 
curbside 
groceries 
through 

The Produce Station, a produce 
market on South State Street. 
Andrew Gorsuch, vice president 
of The Produce Station, found 
out about Refraction AI’s deliv-
ery service after their trial run 
with Korean eatery Miss Kim, 
and he said he is happy with the 
delivery service and the feed-
back he has received from cus-
tomers of the store. 

3

Thursday, May 21, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

On May 13, the Ann Arbor Public 

Schools Board of Education approved 
the district’s acquisition of the online 
educational platform Schoology by 
a 6-1 vote. The new platform will 
be adopted starting this summer, as 
teachers will receive training this 
month and begin instructing sum-
mer classes online with Schoology as 
soon as July. At the end of the sum-
mer, the platform will be reviewed 
and considered for future use in the 
event of a partially or fully online fall 
semester.

Superintendent of Schools Jean-

ice Swift opened the hearing of the 
proposal to acquire Schoology by 
identifying the district’s intentions 
to streamline communication with 
the unified platform.

“We are looking to streamline the 

learning management platform for 
the district,” Swift said. “The goal 
is to improve the tools by which our 
teachers do their work and to stream-
line the approach by which parents 
locate their communications from 
the district, their student grades, 
their student attendance (and) their 
student assignments.” 

The Schoology platform boasts 

efficient communication between 
students, 
teachers, 
parents 
and 

administrators, as well as interop-
erability with a number of popular 
educational tools and platforms 
including Khan Academy and Pow-
erSchool, according to its website.

During the board meeting, Dawn 

Linden, assistant superintendent and 
district leader, presented the results 
of a preliminary research study con-
ducted to gather teachers’ input on 
the Schoology platform. According 
to Linden, 186 teachers participated 
in an hour-long Schoology demon-
stration and 135 shared their initial 
reactions in the survey afterward.

“In general, the biggest concern 

was the ability to process change,” 
Linden said. “The major concern that 
we heard was learning a new tool.”

Peter Stenger, a junior at Huron 

High School, expressed similar 
skepticism regarding the benefits 
of the new platform in an interview 
with The Daily. He identified Google 
Classroom as the predominant plat-
form his instructors have used since 
the district’s government-mandated 
transition into remote learning. 
Stenger cited experiences using 
other platforms like Zoom, Flip Grid 
and Mango Learning across different 
subjects. He had no previous experi-
ence with the Schoology platform.

“Right now, Google Classroom 

is the unified platform (at Huron), 
so really, I don’t see a lot of major 
changes (coming with the adoption 
of the Schoology platform),” Stenger 

said. “It might be a little harder for 
students to use the new platform if 
they’re not familiar with it. So yeah, 
maybe it could be negative in that 
sense ... I wouldn’t see a lot of benefit 
in moving to the unified platform.”

Several elementary school teach-

ers expressed concern in survey 
responses regarding whether use of 
the platform Seesaw would still be 
possible. Linden said the acquisition 
of the Schoology platform would not 
necessarily preclude other platforms 
that teachers have grown accus-
tomed to.

“Our goal is not to eliminate things 

that are working,” Linden said. “Our 
goal is to make things efficient and 
easy for teachers. … If (Seesaw is) the 
tool that works … we wouldn’t take it 
away.”

Lillian Losinski, a sophomore at 

Skyline High School, voiced support 
for the Schoology platform in an 
interview with The Daily. Though 
she did not have prior experience 
with the platform, she said it had 
potential to alleviate the confusion 
created by teachers using different 
platforms.

“From what I did read, it kind of 

seemed like (Schoology) was … like 
everything that we’re doing right 
now, but under one program,” Losin-
ski said. “I feel like it’d be better 
because it would just be more, like, 
connected.”

Ann Arbor Public Schools 
acquires online platform

JULIANNA MORANO

For The Daily

Design by Maggie Wiebe

AI Robots deliver 
AI Robots deliver 
food and groceries
food and groceries

NAVYA GUPTA
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com

Two University professors launch new 

tech start-up

“Schoology” approved 
by Board of Education 

in 6-1 vote

