Drones to Deliver Chipotle Burritos in Test at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, VA — Virginia Tech's official motto is the Latin phrase Ut Prosim, meaning "That I May Serve." Serve, say, burritos from Chipotle? In this case, yes indeed.

One of the school's research arms is hooking up with Project Wing, part of Google's X lab, to study how to hone drone technology and ultimately make it useful for helping with natural disasters, emergency assistance, and, well, burrito delivery.

"Last year while discussing the entrepreneurial spirit at Virginia Tech, I jokingly speculated we might one day have quadcopters delivering ramen noodles around campus," Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement. "Apparently, I wasn't off by much."

The tests are scheduled to begin later this month, but students in their dorm rooms won't be able to pick up a phone and order Chipotle via drone.

The tests instead will be a closed project, with students and employees in a nearby building ordering burritos on a special kiosk and seeing their food flown to them over a couple of hundred yards of open land. The food will be prepared by workers in a Chipotle truck.

The flights will be Project Wing's first tests involving external users in the United States, as well as its first collaboration with a Federal Aviation Administration-approved unmanned aircraft test site.

"Virginia Tech has long been a champion of aviation safety, innovation, and entrepreneurship,” Project Wing chief Dave Vos said in a statement. “Our collaboration will generate new data on the operation of a delivery system and aircraft and will help gather insights about how people might use an aerial delivery system in their daily lives."

Photo: Virginia Tech