You know those food delivery robots? There are behind-the-scenes workers who monitor, drive, troubleshoot and rescue them. And — when things go terribly wrong — they may hop on a bike or scooter to complete the delivery themselves.
Although the robots’ friendly appearance is what customers recall, their creation involves serious science.
Although sidewalk delivery was boosted by pandemic lockdown orders, the businesses like to highlight how bots help reduce pollution and climate change. Back at Coco’s Culver City office, Lily Shaw is piloting a delivery from Alfalfa, a Santa Monica restaurant. Co-owner Dan Londono says he was attracted by the time savings.
“As a Coconaut, you’ll join an elite team: the pilots of our remotely-operated robot fleet,” Coco’s standard pilot job listing says. “Once you’ve completed a brief training, you can enter your virtual robot cockpit, accept jobs, and deliver items to our customers. Get paid to drive robots!” “I’ve driven through worse,” shrugs Shaw, untroubled, except, maybe, for those doors. “Someone will open them just as I’m passing by and they could get me,” she says, speaking as if she were the bot. “You’ve got to be careful.”Driving for pay? These are your best options
Most of the other pilots are like Cole Green, 21, a gamer who rivals Tom Brady for sport longevity. Green, who is studying sociology at Santa Monica College, has been playing on XBox since he was 7. In effect, he’s had an apprenticeship for bot controlling that has lasted two-thirds of his life.