Pokémon Go data is helping Niantic train urban delivery robots

Data collected from Pokémon Go and Niantic’s earlier AR game Ingress is being used to train robots for urban deliveries. Although Scopely acquired Pokémon Go in March 2025, Niantic retained the spatial datasets it gathered while the game was most active and is applying that work through its Niantic Spatial division.

Niantic Spatial has teamed with Coco Robotics to improve Coco, a fleet of roughly 1,000 flight-case–sized robots built to carry up to eight extra-large pizzas or four grocery bags. Coco is already deployed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Jersey City, Miami, and Helsinki, and one major technical hurdle the robots face is weak GPS signals in dense city environments where radio waves bounce off tall buildings.

Niantic’s Visual Positioning System (VPS) uses phone images and scans to determine location from surroundings rather than relying solely on GPS. Players helped build those city models by taking photos and scans at different angles; a 2020 Field Research feature even rewarded players for gathering these images.

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