Pokémon Go players helped train Niantic technology that will move delivery robots through the streets

The technology of Niantic Spatial will boost Coco Robotics’ fleet of delivery robots so that they can navigate with precision in urban areas, something they will do thanks to the contribution of the Pokémon Go players.

He visual positioning system (VPS) and space artificial intelligence technology from Niantic will allow delivery robots to face the challenges posed by urban areas, such as tall buildings and crowded areas, which can affect the GPS signal, offering a precise location so they can trace the best delivery route.

“The new version of the product offers best-in-class reliability, flexible data entry from a wide range of 2D and 3D data sourcesand global coverage without prior scanning,” explains the technology company in a statement.

The agreement with Coco Robotics is the first to test this technology, which uses an AI model that has been entering with Data collected by Pokémon Go players –since March 2025, owned by Scopely– e Ingressand that locates the user’s position based on what they see.

According to the executive director of Niantic Spatial, John Hanke, “it turns out that getting Pikachu to run realistically and Coco’s robot to move around the world safely and precisely is, in reality, the same problem,” as pointed out to the specialized media Technology Review and reported by Europa Press.

Specifically, Niantic has used 30 billion images of urban environments that were grouped at points of interest within the games, such as Pokémon gyms, for players to go to.

Each location has images taken at different times of day, under different weather conditions and from different angles. And the metadata includes information about the catch, such as the precise location, the orientation of the phone and the speed at which it was moving.

Coco’s robots will also contribute with their catches to develop what Niantic Spatial calls a living map, that is, a hyperrealistic simulation of the world that changes with it, as Hanke explained.

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