Pikachu’s Secret Side Hustle: How Pokémon Go Players Trained the World’s Newest Pizza Robots

Niantic has revealed that the massive trove of over 30 billion environmental scans generated by Pokémon Go players is being utilized to enhance the navigation systems of autonomous delivery robots. In a partnership with Coco Robotics, this crowdsourced 3D mapping data allows bots to better understand and traverse physical spaces like sidewalks and storefronts. While players thought they were simply completing in-game tasks, their contributions have effectively built one of the most comprehensive spatial maps in existence, bridging the gap between mobile gaming and real-world logistics automation.