Diner employs drone to deliver food to college campus

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After a university in northeast China banned take out delivery from entering its campus, a nearby diner found a new way to continue its business – by employing a civilian drone as the “deliveryman”.

The drone flying into the academy /Bandao Morning News Photo

At the beginning of the September semester, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in northeast China’s Dalian city of Liaoning Province issued a new regulation banning food deliverymen from entering its campus.

The new rule, however, failed to stop a nearby fried chicken diner Weisike from continuing its business.

To carry on its usual delivery service, the diner’s owners, a young couple, came up with the idea to use their own civilian drone as a delivery tool, tying packaged food to the machine and remotely controlling the drone to fly into the campus.

The diner pinned the drone delivery service on top of the food ordering page. /Bandao Morning News Photo

“Luxun Fine Arts won’t let us in? No worries. We’ll fly to you!” The diner advertised on the online ordering platform. The drone delivery was free of charge and diner owners told Bandao Morning News that students welcomed the service with positive feedbacks.

On Wednesday, as the buzzing drone hung with plastic bags hovered over the dormitory area, one student caught sight of the flying machine and posted the scene on China’s social media Weibo, triggering an online sensation.

The drone with the packaged food ready to be delivered to the campus. /Bandao Morning News Photo

“This is probably China’s earliest example of using a drone for food delivery, a pioneer,” @fengzhonglingluandegou commented.

“Hope the students won’t take away the drone with their food!” @qigebuchongmingdemingzhennan commented.

While most netizens show support of the innovation, some proposed the question if the drone was registered, since China has issued a requirement in June requiring civilian drones weighing more than 250g to be registered under real names.

In response to the diner’s move, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts reported the service to the police. The investigation is underway.

Worrying about campus safety and food quality, many tertiary institutions in China have banned food delivery from entering campus. As early as 2015, eight universities in Beijing issued regulations limiting deliverymen’s access into school campus, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Northwest University established its own on campus food delivery service. /Chinanews Photo

On the other hand, a few universities have taken advantage of the booming “Internet plus catering”. In April, Northwest University in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province even established its own food delivery service for the students’ convenience.