Coco robots deliver food as part of pilot program in Chicago

With a single steak quesadilla in its belly, “Coco” begins the journey south, rolling smoothly along a River West sidewalk.

Just a few seconds into the trip, it encounters a problem — a U.S. Postal truck blocks the intersection it wishes to cross.

Coco doesn’t squawk or otherwise protest; it halts and waits, its blue lights gently pulsing for the next five minutes or so. When the truck moves on, so does Coco — a food delivery robot that looks like a beer cooler on wheels.

Los Angeles-based Coco Robotics isn’t the first delivery robot to test the waters — along with the snow and ice — here in Chicago. But unlike Starship robots, which offered a popular, though short-lived service at the University of Illinois Chicago, these robots leave the relative safety of a college campus (Starship robots venture farther afield in other locations). The Coco robots here are crossing busy intersections, avoiding being crushed under the wheels of an SUV or a bus, thanks to onboard cameras, sensors and a remote human “safety pilot.”

In early December, 20 or so of the flamingo-pink robots could be found rolling along city sidewalks as part of a pilot program in the 27th Ward (a ward that includes Fulton Market, the West Loop and River West, among other neighborhoods) and the 34th Ward (parts of the Loop, South Loop, Greektown, the West Loop and Little Italy all fall within its boundaries). Coco currently delivers across "most of both wards," according to the company, adding that the robots are available to any restaurant in those delivery areas.

Each robot weighs about 100 pounds empty and has a top speed of 5 mph.

Customers typically order using the food delivery app DoorDash. In offering robot delivery, the app factors in such things as driver availability and delivery distance, according to the robotics company. When the robot arrives, the customer presses a button on the delivery app to open the robot's cargo hold.

The pilot program here is expected to run through May 31.

“We’ll see how many vehicles we need to service the whole city, but we plan to make this available to everyone in Chicago over time,” said Zach Rash, the 27-year-old founder of the Los Angeles-based company.

Coco has a fleet of about 1,000 vehicles, most of which operate in Los Angeles, Rash said. Despite the potential hazards, the robots haven't been involved in any accidents here, the company said.

In Los Angeles, where the robots have traveled a combined "1 million miles," there have been only a "few minor traffic incidents and thefts," according to the company.

But what about winters in Chicago?

“We are confident we’ll be able to handle the snow,” Rash said, pointing out that the company also operates on a limited basis in Finland's capital, Helsinki.

“There’s a huge need for a solution in those markets where the weather gets really cold in winter. In Helsinki, it’s dark all day. It’s very cold outside. So delivery skyrockets," Rash said.

Robots are a good option in winter because Cocos are all-wheel drive and there aren’t always enough human drivers available, Rash said. And if a driver has three or four deliveries at different addresses, food may start to get cold, he said. Coco robots don't do "batch" deliveries, the company said.

The Coco robot transporting a steak quesadilla in mid-December took about 35 minutes to reach its destination, rumbling along cracked and bumpy sidewalks, halting at crosswalks to avoid cars and trucks. It drew countless curious stares from pedestrians and motorists.

"That m_____ f_____ was standing at the stop sign waiting to cross the street. Wow!" said one gawker talking into his cell phone at the corner of North Halsted and West Fulton.

The robot eventually reached its West Loop destination — a gleaming high-rise. Kiley Kio, 27, who works from home, was waiting outside to pick up her order.

Kio punched a button on the phone app, and the Coco robot's lid gently opened.

"I can definitely say that the food orders I've received from people recently are a bit less warm than the one I got that day from the robot," Kio said a couple of weeks after the robot delivery, her first.

She said the robot charge was comparable to what she would have paid a delivery driver, although she did not, she said, have to add a tip.

But with a robot making an hour-long round trip to deliver a single quesadilla, is the service profitable?

The robot delivery program at UIC ended in May 2024, some 2 1/2 years after it began, when the college changed food service vendors.

"Currently, we do not have plans to re-launch robot delivery services with our new dining partner, SodexoMagic," said Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a UIC spokeswoman.

Gonzalez said she could not provide information about how much the robot service was used while on campus.

But the Coco folks said it is a money maker, noting that "Robots cost less per delivery than their human counterparts. Coco has completed over half a million deliveries in LA where we are delivering profitably at less than half the cost of a human driver."

Robot delivery charges are comparable in price to driver delivery charges, but less when you factor in the tip, which robots don't accept, according to Coco.