UH's food delivery robots are taking over campus and causing a frenzy online

The University of Houston has officially deployed its fleet of 30 food delivery robots, making history as the first university in Texas to offer robotic deliveries to students, staff and faculty. The robots can be tracked on an interactive map as they make their way to a building's nearest outdoor entrance and are quickly becoming part of campus life. less The University of Houston has officially deployed its fleet of 30 food delivery robots, making history as the first university in Texas to offer robotic deliveries to students, staff and faculty. The robots can ... more Photo: University Of Houston Photo: University Of Houston Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close UH's food delivery robots are taking over campus and causing a frenzy online 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The food delivery robots at the University of Houston have taken over campus, making for some hilarious social media posts that have quickly gone viral.

UH deployed its first fleet of 30 food delivery robots this month, making history as the first university in Texas to offer robotic deliveries. Developed by Starship Technologies, the robots are able to pick up food from eleven UH dining locations and deliver orders to any building's nearest outdoor entrance. They operate at night, rain or shine, and can cross streets and climb curbs.

Read: The future of autonomous delivery robots may be in suburban Houston.

The bots have quickly made themselves known at the UH campus. Social media posts from students show swarms of the robots making their way across campus as their small orange, triangle-shaped flags peek out above the crowds of students.

UH System Chancellor and President Renu Khator said in a Nov. 13 tweet the students find the robots quite amusing and often engage with them by taking photos and talking to them.

"Robots can follow one another, avoid traffic, pause and push themselves over bumps and—my favorite—say 'Go Coogs!'" Khator said.

A Tik Tok video of the robots shared to Twitter has been viewed close to half a million times. There's even a satirical online petition to add elbows or "swangas" onto the wheels of the robots in honor of Houston's slab scene.

Read more on the robots and how they are helping UH make history here.

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com