Unknown event in Oregon, Corvallis area, United States of America on Tue 24th October 2023

Oregon State University on Tuesday warned of a bomb threat associated with its food delivery robots.

The Corvallis university said the emergency was over at 1:39 p.m., a little over an hour after telling people not to open any of the robots and to “avoid all robots until further notice” in a social media post.

Campus public safety employees and a technician have isolated the robots in a safe location and are investigating, the university said in subsequent social-media posts.

Oregon State University did not immediately respond Tuesday to phone and email inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Corvallis police have not responded to the campus, a receptionist at the department said Tuesday.

In October 2021, Oregon State University launched a fleet of 20 “autonomous delivery robots,” created by San Francisco-based company Starship Technologies, to take food to people on its 500-acre campus. The small robots have six wheels and bear an orange flag; in 2021, the university said the robots use GPS, sensors and artificial intelligence to navigate and avoid hitting obstacles.