by Aidan Lewis
The new Mines Rovers, autonomous shuttles which travel through the Mines campus and wider Golden community, have been much discussed and much criticized by students at this school. This article details the results of a survey which questioned 41 Mines students who were asked 5 questions about the Mines Rover. Students questioned were randomly selected from those walking through the Mines pedestrian plaza on the afternoon of Friday the 24th of September. Each was asked the questions the same way, in the same order.
It was found that on average, students gave the Rover a score of 2.15 out of 5 on effectiveness as a transportation method. Students also gave the Rover an average score of 2.98 out of 5 on how much they liked the Rover, which is pretty much neutral. Still, closer to half of students said Mines should keep operating the Rover as compared to a third which said the school should not. Several participants expressed that they felt the Rover would benefit from improvements. Others expressed that they liked that it helped those with difficulty walking to get around. The findings of the survey are detailed in graphics to the right.