‘Pokémon Go’ players have been unknowingly building a 3D map of the world for robots
By playing the game and scanning their surroundings, players helped to contribute to the creation of a 3D model of the real world.
Pokémon Go was one of the most popular games in the summer of 2016. Almost everyone was out pointing their phones at streets and parks trying to "catch 'em all." On March 13, Niantic Spatial, one of the teams that worked on Pokémon Go, announced its collaboration with Coco Robotics. The latter is a delivery service that builds robots to deliver food and groceries within short distances. The robots will be using a Visual Positioning System (VPS) while making the deliveries to navigate the area.
The VPS model was trained using the images and data obtained from Pokémon Go players. Back in 2016, the app had 230 million players, and over 300 million images have been collected over the years. By playing the game and scanning their surroundings, players unknowingly contributed to the creation of a 3D model of the real world.
Some of the images and data were also collected from “Pokémon battle arenas.” Additionally, a feature called "Field Research" was added to the game in 2020. Players were encouraged to scan "real-world statues and landmarks" for in-game rewards.
John Hanke, the CEO of Niantic Spatial, said during an interview with MIT Technology Review, "It turns out that getting Pikachu to realistically run around and getting Coco’s robot to safely and accurately move through the world is actually the same problem." Niantic Spatial made the change from GPS to VPS because the former is not reliable.
Previously tested delivery robots were facing issues with connectivity and direction, especially when it comes to crossing streets. Hanke added, "The promise of last-mile robotics is immense, but the reality of navigating chaotic city streets is one of the hardest engineering challenges."
With the already existing challenges, Niantic Spatial is planning to use VPS along with four cameras mounted on a Coco robot. This will ensure that the delivery robot can scan and get a better read of its surroundings. Niantic and Coco also announced that they are currently building a "living map" together.
When the delivery robots start operating, they will collect more data to make sure that the maps are accurate. They compare this form of data collection to what Tesla and Waymo has been doing over the years.
Even though the hype has died down in 2026, it is estimated that there are still around 50 million active users. At the initial release of the game, Statista recorded a whopping 228 million downloads across the world. By the second quarter of 2025, the number of downloads had dwindled to just 8.98 million worldwide.
A study was conducted on 243 Pokémon Go users (112 females and 131 males) to observe the physical activity level, mental well-being, and health behaviors in 2025. The study by Gellar et al. had some positive and negative impacts on the participants. The majority of players (68%) noted high physical activity levels.
The positive outcomes from playing Pokémon Go showed, "More than 80% of participants reported increased walking distances, and 39% indicated that playing the game had improved their overall mood, while 13% reported enhanced social interactions." On the other hand, the downside of playing the game showed, "27% of respondents admitting to sacrificing sleep, 20% considering themselves addicted, and more than half exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) screen time guidelines based solely on the time spent playing Pokémon GO."
Brian McClendon, the CTO at Niantic Spatial, said during the interview with MIT Technology Review, "Everybody thought that AR was the future, that AR glasses were coming, and then robots became the audience... We're not there yet, but we want to be there. I’m very focused on trying to re-create the real world."
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