Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF), a subsidiary of Italian light vehicle manufacturer Piaggio, has partnered with airport food delivery provider AtYourGate to pilot its delivery robot “Gita” at eight US airports over the next three months. The selected airports include the Philadelphia International Airport, a terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International AIrport, and the Minneapolis International Airport.

The robots will be paired up with AtYourGate’s delivery personnel and will follow them to customers. Thus, this does not eliminate the need for delivery employees, but instead helps them carry out orders and ensure contactless food delivery.  

The news follows the announcement of multiple pilot programs by PFF last October, with Delivery Co-op in Lexington, Kentucky, Cincinnati’s CVG International Airport, a retirement community in Florida, and Dogan Group’s retail malls in Turkey.

Gita is designed to carry a weight of up to 40 lbs and operate both indoors and outdoors, making it ideal for retail settings to help customers carry their groceries while shopping. The robot can travel up to six miles per hour and pairs up with users by recognizing their shape and size using on-board cameras and sensors.