Delivery company Grubhub Inc. plans to roll out food-delivering robots across U.S. college campuses from this fall, as automation grows in a sector turbocharged by the pandemic.

Grubhub will deploy the suitcase-size rovers built by Russian tech company Yandex NV to some of the 250 colleges across the U.S. that Grubhub already operates in, the companies said Tuesday. The six-wheeled autonomous rovers have been tested in recent years on the snowy streets of Moscow, delivering food, groceries and documents. Since April, the robots have also been delivering orders from local restaurants in Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of a trial.

The pandemic has boosted the food-delivery business, sparking interest from some companies to automate parts of their operations. The use of robots and drones is aimed at cutting labor costs, one of the biggest hurdles on the path to making delivery profitable. Earlier this year, DoorDash Inc. acquired robotics startup Chowbotics, whose technology can whip up salads and poke bowls.

In recent years, companies have started to test robotic deliveries in trials and smaller rollouts.

San-Francisco-headquartered Starship Technologies Inc. has been expanding its U.S. college-campus delivery, while in Sacramento, Calif., Nuro LLC’s robots have been shuttling food, fresh linens and personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

Autonomous delievery robots from Yandex can carry as much as 44 pounds of goods.

Autonomous delievery robots from Yandex can carry as much as 44 pounds of goods.

Photo: yuri kadobnov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

“Globally, we see growing demand for all kinds of on-demand delivery services,” said Artem Fokin, head of business development at the Yandex Self-Driving Group, which develops autonomous vehicles. “The pandemic didn’t start this trend, but it certainly accelerated it.”

Delivering food is an expensive and complex logistical undertaking, analysts say. Apps typically earn money by charging restaurants a percentage of the value of orders, as well as by charging consumers a service fee. They then dip into those earnings to pay drivers, their biggest expense.

Delivery bots now promise to limit the human element and lower some costs.

“Robots don’t need lunch breaks, there are no high turnover issues, they are easy to manage,” Mr. Fokin said. “Customers are also excited to see them. They are a novelty.”

Grubhub said it expects the technology to deliver cost savings, both for the company and for consumers by charging a lower service fee than for a human delivery.

Yandex said its autonomous delivery robots, which have the capacity to carry as much as 44 pounds of goods, can navigate pavements, pedestrian areas and crosswalks slightly faster than the speed of an average pedestrian. After an order is placed, the rover makes its way to the restaurant, picks up the food and then delivers it to a specific location where the user unlocks its hatch through the Grubhub app.

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College campuses have been an early testing ground for autonomous rover makers because they often cover a smaller, private geographic area that is easier to control and the bots don’t have to interact with cars or other larger vehicles, said Nick Reed, a transport-technology consultant based in the U.K.

For Grubhub, which agreed to combine with Europe’s Just Eat Takeaway.com NV last year, the Yandex partnership is its first foray into robotic food deliveries. Grubhub has focused on college delivery in recent years and it acquired a technology platform custom-designed for campus use in 2018, becoming one of the largest suppliers in the campus niche.

Grubhub had looked at robot deliveries a few years ago but at the time the technology wasn’t ready, often needing a person to walk alongside the rover, said Brian Madigan, the company’s vice president of corporate and campus partners. Then, about a year ago, as the pandemic boosted both deliveries and the desire for less human interaction, some of the campuses Grubhub works with began asking about robot deliveries, he said.

“Momentum for automation picked up over the last year and the technology is much more advanced now,” Mr. Madigan said.

The rovers have delivered orders from Ann Arbor, Mich., restaurants, in tests this year.

The rovers have delivered orders from Ann Arbor, Mich., restaurants, in tests this year.

Photo: Yandex

Grubhub selected Yandex as its partner after looking at its experience with delivery bots in Russia. Grubhub didn’t disclose which campuses would be the first to get the robots. The campuses it supplies are usually large, with as many as 60,000 students, according to the company.

Often dubbed as Russia’s Google because of its strength in the country’s online search market, Nasdaq-listed Yandex has expanded into areas such as food delivery, video streaming and taxi services. Yandex also has an Alexa-style virtual assistant called Alice.

For the makers of autonomous vehicles, delivery robots offer an opportunity to earn money from the technology while legislation catches up and customers get used to driverless cars.

“Everyone initially focused on robotaxis, but the technology hasn’t matured yet so now more and more companies are looking at delivery,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Detroit-based advisory firm Guidehouse Insights. “It makes it much easier to commercialize.”

Yandex’s Self-Driving Group has been developing its autonomous-vehicles technology since 2017 and has a fleet of 170 cars. It is now using the same technology for its delivery robots. Yandex says its rovers have made more than 17,000 deliveries so far, mostly in Moscow and other Russian cities.

“Scaling our robotaxi business requires not only tech, but legislation as well,” Yandex’s Mr. Fokin said. “However, autonomous robots can hit the ground running, they don’t face such constraints and can be monetized as soon as possible.”

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com