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