Radio edit above, full-length interview below.

When you’re starting a business, it’s wise to pay attention to others’ opinions. Zach Rash and Brad Squicciarini were studying robotics at UCLA and developed the concept for a more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly way of delivering food: a robot, or more to the point, a robocourier. Rather than continue to grad school, they decided to start a company. They named it Cyan, like the color, and if not for the advice of an investor, that’s the name they would have given to their robots. “He said that’s the worst name I’ve ever heard, so we looked up cute dog names and Coco was at the top of the list. It was about a 10-second process.”

In 2020, they rolled out Coco, which is a pinkish-reddish (cyan!) insulated cube on wheels that weighs about 100 pounds and can carry several large pizzas or four bags of groceries, or a combination of both. It can carry hot or cold food, or both. Deliveries began in parts of Los Angeles, where the weather is nearly always nice. As he tells WGN’s Steve Alexander in the audio clips above, in December of 2024, they added snow tires, all-wheel drive, and other adjustments to see if Coco could navigate the often icy and snow-clogged sidewalks of Chicago, not to mention the freezing temperatures that limit battery life. It did, and as of this writing, there are about a hundred Coco robots roaming the streets of Chicago.

“The core technology we’ve developed is this ultra-low cost vehicle, it’s compact, it’s lightweight, it’s super-safe, it’s energy efficient, it works really well in these dense urban environments like Chicago where there can be a lot of traffic and it’s difficult to find parking,” said Rash. “So, it’s designed to be the best autonomous vehicle to move goods around these cities, and that’s all powered by a self-driving A.I. technology.” He says Coco uses a combination of five cameras; front, rear, left, and right cameras with LiDAR for 360-degree perception, essential for autonomous navigation. Cameras provide visual detail like signs and lane markings, while LiDAR delivers accurate depth sensing. Together, he says, they create a real-time 3D view of the environment, allowing safe path planning, obstacle avoidance, and reliable operation in complex urban settings.

But even with all their A.I. and cameras, the robots can get bogged down. That’s where humans come in. “We have drivers who work remotely and can oversee the fleet and step in when the robots are having trouble making a decision.” Rash adds, “You know you can think about it going down the sidewalk autonomously, it can cross the basic intersection autonomously, but then you have a lot of different situations where you have snow all over the ground, the traffic light’s out, it’s gridlock traffic, or there’s a construction zone. The system won’t know what to do itself, it can ask for help, and our human operators (who may be thousands of miles away) are trained on how to handle those scenarios.”

Rash says the robots complement, not replace human delivery drivers. “When it’s freezing cold, snow all over the ground and it might be miserable to be outside and be a delivery courier, those are also the same times people want to order food or groceries the most. They don’t want to leave their house, they want things brought to them, but it’s hard to get drivers on the road during those times. So robots can provide a really helpful service to people in the most extreme weather conditions.” Even in good weather, some restaurants have trouble getting enough drivers.

Most of the food delivered by Coco is pizza. “It’s about 70% hot prepared food, and 30% groceries,” says Rash. To order food delivered by Coco, a customer uses the restaurant’s app or delivery apps DoorDash or Uber, places the order. The restaurant places the food in Coco’s box, punches in a code to lock it, and Coco takes off to its destination. Customers can track the robot on their phones, much like we do with ride-share cars, and are notified when Coco arrives. They punch in a code and the lid opens. Rash says the deliveries take at most 15 minutes, and Coco makes no stops along the way.

Any problems with thieves? Rash says no. He says it would take special tools to get into the locked Coco food compartment, and at 100 pounds, it would be difficult to haul away. There are cameras all over it and alarms and pre-recorded warnings and messages the remote drivers can activate. Plus, he says, “People generally understand that it’s transporting food from a local business to a family for dinner. People treat them with a lot more respect than you might have seen with some other devices.” He may be referring to the EV rental scooters, which are often dumped willy-nilly after their use, blocking Chicago’s sidewalks. Those, too, along with tree roots and broken concrete and other impediments that make just walking on the sidewalks difficult, present a challenge to Coco’s mobility, but Rash says the system keeps track of such things and Coco, in its A.I. way, knows how to avoid them.

The Business of Food with Steve Alexander can be heard Mondays and Fridays at 7:38 am and 12:45 p.m., and Tuesdays-Thursdays at 6:38 am and 12:45 p.m. on WGN Radio.

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