Yandex, a Russian technology company, supplies the on-campus food delivery robots through Ohio State’s partnership with Grubhub. Credit: Tom Hanks | Lantern Reporter

Following the invasion of Ukraine, some Buckeyes are wondering what the future holds for the Russian-made food delivery robots on Ohio State’s campus.

Yandex, a Russian technology company, supplies the on-campus food delivery robots through Ohio State’s partnership with Grubhub. The robots remain operational — though Grubhub said it continues to monitor the conflict in Ukraine and is “considering contingency plans” as the U.S. and other countries impose economic sanctions on Russian leaders and oligarchs. 

University spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email Ohio State has a contract with Grubhub for the automated food delivery rovers, and Grubhub selected Yandex to supply them after “extensive due diligence.”

“Grubhub is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and staying abreast with the U.S. State Department of any sanctions being levied on Russia,” Booker said. 

Grubhub spokesperson Katie Norris confirmed the company is monitoring the conflict in Ukraine, including “any developments that would impact our operations and partnership with Yandex’s Self Driving Group.”

“We remain in close contact with our partners at Ohio State and are reviewing contingency plans,” Norris said in an email. “We take seriously our responsibility to the universities that we partner with – and ultimately the student diners who order from the Grubhub platform – to make food ordering and delivery available.” 

Norris did not respond to a further request about what these contingency plans might entail. A Yandex company spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

Marianna Klochko, associate professor in sociology at the Marion campus of Ohio State, said while she understands Ohio State only works indirectly with Yandex through its contract with Grubhub, she thinks the university should either ask Grubhub not to use the Yandex robots or break its contract with the company. 

She said she urges university leadership to take a stance.

“The profit should not guide our decision making all the time,” Klochko, who is also the adviser to the student organization The Ukrainian Society of The Ohio State University, said in an email. 

Angela Brintlinger, professor and interim chair of the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, said in an email she has heard from students majoring in Russian and faculty alike that many people around them are not aware that Yandex is a Russian company. 

University spokesperson Dave Isaacs said there are currently 50 delivery robots on campus, with plans to increase that number to 100 over time. 

On the other hand, Brintlinger said people in her field of study felt it was crazy for the Russian-made bots to roam campus in the first place, but skepticism of Yandex is less widespread outside of her field — including among Ohio State’s administration.

“I just don’t think the administration, people who are not aware of east European companies, would even have noticed,” Brintlinger said. “They just didn’t know what they were doing.”

Still, Brintlinger said she doesn’t think any of her colleagues made a concerted effort to get the robots off of campus since they first arrived. Now, though, she thinks it might be the right time to address the administration and ask for the delivery robots to be removed. 

Brintlinger said she recognizes breaking a contract with Grubhub is a significant step and that the university would require a significant reason to do so. Still, since the Russian government is “so blatantly violating international law,” she thinks it is a good time to disinvest from the delivery robots.

“We can choose our contracts more carefully. And I’m sure that getting out of a contract like this might be difficult, but it’s a choice we could make,” Brintlinger said. “We have business dollars that we are using, and we can use them neutrally, completely neutrally. I’m not asking anybody to be an activist, but we don’t need to use them with companies that are acting in bad faith, or that are connected with political actors who do not act in good faith.”

Booker said the university continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine and aims to offer resources and support to students who may be impacted by the conflict.

“The university community continues to watch the events in Ukraine unfold with concern for those who are, and will be, impacted by this conflict,” Booker said.