In brief
\nNiantic Spatial is partnering with Coco Robotics to power navigation for delivery robots.
\nThe system uses Niantic\u2019s Visual Positioning System to locate robots where GPS struggles.
\nNiantic says earlier versions of the system incorporated optional scans submitted by players through its games.<\/p>\n
The millions of players who spent years scanning landmarks while playing Pok\u00e9mon Go helped build the mapping technology now guiding delivery robots through city streets, according to a recent report<\/a> by MIT Technology Review.<\/p>\n The news comes as AI and robotics developers work to give robots a more accurate sense of their surroundings<\/a> so they can move through cities without relying solely on GPS.<\/p>\n In February, Niantic Spatial partnered<\/a> with Santa Monica, CA-based Coco Robotics to provide navigation technology for the company\u2019s autonomous delivery machines.<\/p>\n \ufeff<\/p>\n Pok\u00e9mon Go, released in 2016, sent players into real-world locations to catch digital creatures and interact with landmarks through their phone cameras.<\/p>\n Players could also submit optional scans of public landmarks such as statues or buildings to improve the system\u2019s spatial mapping.<\/p>\n That mapping technology now powers San Francisco-based Niantic Spatial\u2019s Visual Positioning System, which determines location by analyzing nearby physical landmarks. In May 2025, Niantic Spatial spun off from Niantic Inc to become its own company.<\/p>\n \u201cOur initial VPS was built using scans that users choose to take in games\u2014but no single source defines the model,\u201d a Niantic Spatial spokesperson told Decrypt. \u201cWhat makes our approach distinctive is the combination of scale and ground-level detail\u2013and increasingly, the data our customers are generating is what drives accuracy in the environments that matter most to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 2020, Coco Robotics operates small autonomous robots that deliver food and retail orders across city neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Helsinki.<\/p>\n Due to increased traffic, construction, and other hazards, robotics companies are increasingly exploring<\/a> vision\u2011based positioning systems to complement GPS navigation.<\/p>\n With GPS, signals can bounce off buildings or disappear entirely in narrow streets, making precise navigation difficult for autonomous machines. VPS tackles this by comparing camera images with detailed visual maps of the environment and can provide much more reliable location data in GPS\u2011challenged conditions.<\/p>\n Critics, however, argue that the dataset behind Niantic\u2019s spatial AI was built by players who may not have realized how their scans could be used.<\/p>\n \u201c143 million people thought they were catching Pok\u00e9mon,\u201d one user wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cThey were actually building one of the largest real-world visual datasets in AI history.\u201d<\/p>\n