Pikachu just helped deliver your pizza, Pokemon Go data is now guiding food delivery robots

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For years, players of Pokémon Go unknowingly helped develop delivery robots. While playing the game, they created over 30 billion scans of the real world, and Niantic, the game’s creator, is now using that data to power the autonomous robots made by Coco Robotics.

Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go and Ingress, has used over 30 billion images and scans – created by players of those games – to develop its Visual Positioning System (VPS), as reported by MIT Technology Review.

Niantic Spatial’s technology is now powering Coco Robotics’ delivery robots, allowing them to navigate city streets with pinpoint accuracy – even in areas where GPS signals are unreliable.

When I played, I’d walk around and use my phone’s camera to scan places like landmarks, PokeStops, and Gyms. This let me finish Field Research and snag some cool rewards in the game.

How Pokemon GO scans help train delivery robots

Every scan took a picture of the area and saved detailed information with it, like the precise location using GPS, the camera’s direction, the time and weather, and how the person taking the picture was moving.

Niantic leveraged a huge amount of data to develop its Visual Positioning System, which accurately identifies buildings, signs, and other street details. This same technology is now being used to help Coco Robotics’ delivery robots navigate.

Niantic Spatial CEO John Hanke recently pointed out a surprising similarity: making Pokémon like Pikachu move convincingly in a game and ensuring Coco’s robot navigates the real world safely and precisely both rely on solving the same technical challenges.

Okay, so I just found out something pretty wild about Pokémon Go! We all knew Niantic was using the maps we created while playing, but it turns out they’re now using that data to teach delivery robots how to navigate! It’s kind of funny, honestly – we were basically building the future of delivery without even realizing it. A lot of us suspected they were using our data for mapping, but this is a whole new level, and everyone’s been joking about it online.

I’ve been seeing a lot of funny stuff on Reddit lately, like jokes about Pikachu teaching robots everything! It’s sparked some good conversations too, mostly about how much data games use and what that means for our privacy.

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Niantic announced on their blog that the technology is now being used on Coco Robotics’ pink delivery robots, which are operating in cities throughout the US and Europe.

During Pokémon Go events in March 2026, you might be able to speed up your Uber Eats or DoorDash deliveries by contributing to map data.

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2026-03-15 18:19