By Andrew Miller, Special to The Herald-Times
The Herald-Times, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

INDIANAPOLIS — A sleek white robot sits with a scrolling “GO HOOSIERS!” message on its pixelated front screen. It cycles through other faces too: darting eyes, blinks and hearts.

Orders placed using the Grubhub app may be delivered on the Indiana University by robots beginning June 8, 2026. Photo from USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

“These robots are very, very polite,” Rahul Shrivastav, executive director of IU Dining and Hospitality, said Thursday, June 4, during a test run.

It’s one of a fleet of 24 food-delivery robots launching June 8 on Indiana University Bloomington campus, in partnership with Grubhub and Avride. Shrivastav said they’re part of an effort to make campus food more accessible and convenient.

The robots have been tested for 18 months, mapping and learning paths. They’ll be confined to campus, with boundaries of East Third Street and Ind. 46. On the west, their coverage will extend up Indiana Avenue to 13th Street, North Walnut Grove to 17th Street and continue north on North Fee Lane.

Shrivastav said they’ll help students busy with classes and those with accessibility needs. Ordering via robot will be available on the Grubhub app. The robots will be doing deliveries from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Shrivastav said store hours vary by location on the weekend so he advices customers to look at the store hours on the GrubHub app.

Participating locations this summer include:

• King’s Hawaiian, BlenzBowls, The Meltdown and Hubbard & Cravens at Bookmarket at Herman B Wells Library

• The Vault Pub, Sugar and Spice Bakery, The Globe, The Lantern, Union Market and Whitfield Grill at the Indiana Memorial Union.

• Eskenazi Café at the Eskenazi Museum of Art

Drew Smith, director of retail dining at IU, said the robots can hold about eight entrees with four drinks. Its trunk is well-insulated, he said, keeping hot orders hot and cold ones cold.

The delivery fee is $3.50 per order. That fee isn’t covered by student meal plans, but the food ordered can be. And Smith said the robots don’t need tips.

One of the robots that will begin delivering orders on the Indiana University Bloomington campus took a practice run on Thursday, June 4, 2026. There are 24 automated delivery vehicles that will be delivering food. A robot with a food delivery waits for a customer to pick up their order at the Indiana University Sample Gates on Thursday, June 4, 2026, during a practice run. Photo from USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

“Now, some people still throw flowers in there, and stuff,” Smith said. “I’ve seen it at other universities doing that.”

Other state universities have already introduced similar services. Purdue University adopted them in 2019, and Ball State University launched its own fleet in 2022. Shrivastav said IU waited to make sure it had the “right robot” and had time to prepare.

The robots have often made the news because of vandalism and targeted assaults. But Shrivastav said he’s not concerned about that being a problem at IU. He said students have ended up “adopting these robots and naming them” at other campuses. Still, they’ll have an added layer of security, with footage reviewable by police.

“They also have cameras everywhere,” he said. “So any vandalism, anything like that, is always recorded.”

Customers use the GrubHub app to unlock the robot when it reaches its destination. Students, parents and visitors can order food using the robot, to be delivered on the IU campus.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Food delivery robots to launch on Indiana University campus

INDIANAPOLIS − Indianapolis prosecutors announced that a 14-year-old boy has been charged in the fatal shooting of an Indiana University graduate in a politicized homicide case consuming the state’s capital.

The teen suspect is accused of killing Brett Scrogham, a 23-year-old recent graduate of Indiana University Kelley School of Business, in late May in a downtown Indianapolis parking garage. The boy faces charges of felony murder, attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and dangerous possession of a firearm, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced June 5.

Officials have not released the 14-year-old boy’s identity, though they said he had no criminal history. Mears said his office has filed a petition to move the teen’s case, currently in juvenile court, to adult court.

The case has drawn scrutiny from Indiana to Washington, DC, as elected officials and local law enforcement grapple with the teen’s age, youth access to firearms, and how local prosecutors are addressing crime.

Mears, a Democrat, has drawn scrutiny from Republicans in the GOP-leaning state over his handling of prosecutions in the state’s predominantly Democratic capital city.

On the Senate floor of the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, on June 1 said Scrogham’s shooting was indicative of a “crisis” with what he called “soft-on-crime policies.”

On June 5, Mears said “a lot of people” are “very willing to assign blame” before knowing all the facts.

On May 28, Scrogham was shot while in a vehicle inside a downtown Indianapolis parking garage near the Indiana Convention Center, police said. Scrogham died two days later of a gunshot wound to the head. 

On June 3, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police homicide detectives arrested the teen suspect on the city’s west side.

“While today’s arrest is significant, my heart breaks for everyone impacted by this tragedy,” Police Chief Tanya Terry said in a June 3 statement. “A young man lost his life, and another now faces allegations that will change his life forever.”

On June 5, Terry told reporters that the case wasn’t indicative of typical activity in downtown Indianapolis, with crimes in the area accounting for less than 7% of total crimes citywide. 

With homicides, the figures appear even less pronounced in downtown. The most recent official data, from 2024, shows that five of the city’s 173 homicides that year happened downtown, or less than 3% of all homicides. In 2023, the number of homicides downtown was just over 1%, or two out of 169 citywide homicides.

Since the start of 2026, there have been 57 homicides across the city, with three of them downtown, or about 5% of all homicides, according to a homicide tracker by IndyStar, part of the USA TODAY Network, drawing from Indianapolis police data.

Still, GOP lawmakers have focused on Indianapolis, saying that the city, particularly its downtown, needs state intervention to address rising violence. One bill in the Republican-controlled state General Assembly’s last session would have created a special district within downtown where a special prosecutor, appointed by the governor, could prosecute crimes. The bill failed.

In 2025, Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, said he was open to the state intervening in the capital after gun violence during the July 4 weekend left five dead, including two youths.

Terry said parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives to prevent them from getting involved in violence.

“Do something with your kid,” she told reporters. “Don’t let them run off and do stuff like this.”

Contributing: Kayla Dwyer, IndyStar

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Teen charged in fatal shooting of Indiana graduate in politicized case